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james martin : north-west aust. aboriginals, 1863 

 James Martin : Aboriginals of North-Western Australia, 1863.

Martin James:
Explorations in North-Western Australia
.
Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 1865,
Volume XXXV, pages 237-289.
Communicated by the Governor of Western Australia, through the Colonial Office.

www.googlebooks
- Ned Overton,
May 2014.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks14/1402201h.html#ch-01

Introduction
James Martin's account of his voyages along the coast of North Western Australia offers insight into the marine culture of the coastal Aboriginals, virtually untouched by outside influences.
Indeed, the only "contact" was a violent confrontation on 25th June, where the Aboriginals clearly not familiar with firearms.
Otherwise, all Martin's observations are based on
ample evidence of Aboriginal activity and the collection of artefacts.
On the mainland, he notes
grounds "recently burned by the natives," and offshore where "beyond doubt (they) assemble on these islands to feast on the produce of the sea (July 30)

Artefacts include "fragments of greenstone with conchoidal fractures, broken so as to adapt the cutting edges," and most importantly several examples of "canoes," actually rafts, as described by King 1818 and Stokes in 1842.

"They brought with them three specimens of the native canoes, which are a step, and that only, in advance of the single log so frequently used by the Australian aborigines.
They (the canoes- not the aborigines) consist of three or four mangrove-sticks, about 6 or 7 feet in length, pegged together with pine.
The ends of all the sticks are carefully sharpened, and only such sticks as are naturally bent to a suitable shape appear to be chosen; about the middle of the canoe there is a pine pin projecting 6 or 7 inches on either side, probably affording a similar support to the native mariner as a stirrup does to a horseman.
Of course there is no attempt to make a bottom to the canoe, nor do the specimens brought show the least sign of ornamentation.
There is a red ochreous stain to be detected upon them here and there, but we account for them as having been communicated from the persons of the natives coloured with wilgi, or they may possibly have been designedly coloured with wilgi (red ochre)."
and
"Near our fire we observed a portion of a native canoe; it was the thicker end of one of the sticks, standing in the place of the ribs; from this specimen we suppose the natives to be in possession of sharp-edged tools, probably made from the same greenstone which they sharpen their spears with, because the end of the stick was formed by clean even cuts, with no sign of scraping; but as they do not require boring tools, the mangrove-sticks being evidently chosen when dry and capable of being fastened by driving a sharpened pine peg through them, as a carpenter would drive a nail through boards, they seem to be unacquainted with the use of them.
Moreover, the pine pegs drive easily through the dry mangroves, and it is only rarely we find the sticks split by the process." (July 31)


Cooee
"Just before sunset the natives on shore lighted up many fires, and gave us a "cooee", but whether of friendship or defiance I know not; however, we returned the salutation in like form, and continued this pastime for an hour or so, hoping to entice them, if they possessed canoes, to pay us a visit."

1818 Phillip Parker King: Aboriginal Rafts and Canoes.
Extracts and illustrations from
Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia,1818 and 1822, Volume 1, John Murray, London,1827.


1842 J. Lort Stokes: Swimming, Floats and Rafts, North West Australia.
Extracts from Discoveries in Australia, T. and W. Boone, London, 1846.


1850 McGillvray and Brierly: Catamarans, New Guinea.
Extracts and illustrations from
Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, T. and W. Boone, London, 1852.



Preface: Historical Background.
[Excerpts from "History of West Australia", Chapter 17, by Warren Bert Kimberley.]

. . . . Mr. Ridley, attached to Mr. Padbury's first party, was a Government Surveyor, and in his report wrote flatteringly of the district ["the scenes of Gregory's explorations" (in the Pilbara)].
The example of the pioneer was therefore early followed by other gentlemen.
By May, 1863, Messrs. K. Brown, S. Hamersley, A. Brown, B. Clarkson, F. Pearse, and Dr. Martin had chartered a vessel—the Flying Foam, Captain Cooper—to convey them to the Glenelg River.
The Glenelg was reached on the 30th June, and the ship proceeded as far as the rapids, about twenty-eight miles from the coast.
...
The Government voted £150 towards the expenses of the expedition, and commissioned Dr. Martin to act as surveyor and botanist.
Surveyor-General Roe, who was acquainted with the country from his voyages with Captain (since Admiral) King gave valuable instructions.
Mr. Panter, inspector of police, was given charge of the party, among whom were Messrs. Turner, F. and H. Caporn, Du Boulay, W. Scott, Langoulant, and Stokes, besides Wildman and two natives.
The ship New Perseverance, under Captain Owston, was chartered, and on 2nd March, 1864, sailed on the quest. Horses were taken for the inland travelling.

Page 273

FROM DOUBTFUL BAY TO THE LOWER RAPIDS OF THE GLENELG RIVER.
June 22, 1863.-
Doubtful Bay is a magnificent sheet of water, 9 miles in length from north to south, and six miles in breadth from east to west.
...
At 8.45 a.m., a party consisting of three of the explorers, with one servant, and the master of the vessel, left in the long boat to climb the range eastward of the bay to search for a navigable entrance to the Glenelg.
Fires, in groups of two, sprang up from the sea-beach, where the party landed, to the summit of the first range;—they are doubtlessly native signal fires.
...
The walk was so fatiguing that the ascent to the highest point of the range was not accomplished.
The natives seemed very numerous, judging by their fires and cooeeing, but they kept out of sight at first; indeed, a near view of one individual only was obtained.
This native carried a bundle of unusually long spears.
Before the party rejoined the boat, however, several were seen in the distance, as if watching the behaviour of their unlooked for visitors.
...
June 25.-
[Following a violent encounter]
 After the skirmish our party passed by some of their fires recently extinguished by scattering about, probably with a view to conceal their proximity just before the attack.
Around their fires were strewn fragments of greenstone (syenitic) with conchoidal fractures, broken so as to adapt the cutting edges for making and pointing their spears, chips and shavings of which lay in all directions.
Specimens were obtained of this greenstone and also the limestone (a brecciated limestone) which is used, after burning, as a paint.
Several other geological contributions were brought away from the vicinity; they nearly all belonged to the primary group.
None of the native weapons were secured, as it was not deemed expedient to follow them into the mangrove thicket; and the whole affair from beginning to end occupied so short a space of time that not one of the party noticed even whether the spears were barbed or not.
The half-moon figure seems to be their war standard: even the night previous to the encounter we noticed the shape of the fires on the side of the hill above their camp, to have a half-moon-like outline.
In person the natives were tall, broad-shouldered, muscular, and exceedingly black.
Their hair was straight and tied at the back of the head.
They had no covering whatever.
Our party remained on the spot for about half an hour afterwards, collecting such botanical and other specimens as lay in their way.
Just before leaving in the boat, the native women and children, who, from higher ground, had surveyed the attack, commenced a wail which resembled that fabulous Dutch concert, where every performer contributed to the harmony by playing his own melody fortissimo, all commencing at a given signal. One remark more may be worth recording, perhaps, as it may tend to prove how little communication takes place between the various native tribes.
When the attacks were made on Grey and Stokes, the natives invariably retired when a shot was fired, or, at latest, when the first man fell.
Here, however, it was only at the second shot that some connection between the boat party as a cause, and the falling of their men, as an effect, seemed to dawn upon them.
The report of the rifles did not produce the slightest hesitation or sign of fear.

July 3.-
...
Our old friend the very beautiful pea,—of a bright scarlet colour, with a jet-black spot on one end, is still met with in every ramble ashore.
These peas appear from the seed-pods to be precisely similar to those of Abrus precatorius which come from the East and West Indies, where they are used as beads.
The leaves and root of this plant taste like liquorice.
In the West Indies the Abrus precatorius is called wild liquorice.
The roots abound in sugar, and from experiments made since the return of the expedition, I believe them a perfect substitute for liquorice in every respect. These beautiful seeds are strung for necklaces and other ornaments by the people of both Indies.
Their specific name (precatorius) was given from the fact of their being occasionally made into Rosaries.
De Candolle, speaking of the Abrus, says, "these plants attain a height of about 9 ft.
The seed is a wholesome pulse."
Hughes, in his 'Natural History of Barbadoes,' treating of Cajanus flavus, a pea most closely allied to A. precatorius, says:—"I know of no part of this shrub but what is of some use.
The wood is good for fuel, and by the often falling of its numerous leaves the land it grows upon is very much enriched; and its fruit is of great service by affording hearty, nourishing food to man and beast.
The peas, green or dry, are boiled and eaten, and esteemed very wholesome, especially if eaten in the wet time of the year; for, being of a binding quality, they prevent diarrhoeas and dysenteries, so common in wet seasons.
The branches, with the ripe seeds and leaves, are given to feed hogs, horses, and other cattle, which grow very fat upon them."
Nearly every word of what is-here said of C. flavus applies to the pea now found growing abundantly in the Glenelg district.
Here, too, the aborigines have discovered the valuable properties of this useful legume: for on the 31st July, on an island in Collier Bay, many pods of this pea were found among the remains of a native feast, although no plants were observed growing upon the island.


Page 251

July
16.-
My companion went to the top of the range bounding the eastern side of the swamp, and on his return reported that the country S. 30 ° W. promised easier travelling, and we therefore started on that course.
After crossing the Glenelg and a most important tributary, at a spot which we denominated "Rocky Springs", we camped.
An entomological research produced me only 30 coleoptera, of three or four species; a beautiful white moth with red markings rewarded me.
Native fires sprung up in all directions towards sunset; it is evident the aborigines are close to us.

July 19.-
...
All the ground passed over during the last three days has been recently burned by the natives.
...
Just before sunset the natives on shore lighted up many fires, and gave us a "cooee", but whether of friendship or defiance I know not; however, we returned the salutation in like form, and continued this pastime for an hour or so, hoping to entice them, if they possessed canoes, to pay us a visit.

Page 260

COLLIER BAY.
July 30.-
At 6 a.m., left the anchorage of last night, and sailed till 8 a.m., when we anchored in Shoal Bay in 4 fathoms.
Here the long-boat left with a crew of three, and three days' provisions, with a view to walk to some high hills and examine the country which appeared so promising from Mount Lizard.
Some of those left on board landed on two of the islands for an hour or two's stroll in the morning
....
[Those who visited the islands]
They observed recent tracks of large parties of natives, who beyond doubt assemble on these islands to feast on the produce of the sea.
...
[Those in the long-boat]
They brought with them three specimens of the native canoes, which are a step, and that only, in advance of the single log so frequently used by the Australian aborigines.
They (the canoes- not the aborigines) consist of three or four mangrove-sticks, about 6 or 7 feet in length, pegged together with pine.
The ends of all the sticks are carefully sharpened, and only such sticks as are naturally bent to a suitable shape appear to be chosen; about the middle of the canoe there is a pine pin projecting 6 or 7 inches on either side, probably affording a similar support to the native mariner as a stirrup does to a horseman.
Of course there is no attempt to make a bottom to the canoe, nor do the specimens brought show the least sign of ornamentation.
There is a red ochreous stain to be detected upon them here and there, but we account for them as having been communicated from the persons of the natives coloured with wilgi, or they may possibly have been designedly coloured with wilgi (red ochre).
They also brought the first specimen we had seen of a Hakea, some few seeds, coral, and other natural objects, but nothing remarkably interesting.
...

July 31.-
At 7 a.m., the long-boat, with an exploring party of six, taking with them a week's provisions, left the vessel to examine the river supposed to exist in the south-eastern corner of "Secure Bay", which latter is laid down in the charts about half its real size.
One of our party and myself, an hour afterwards, left for the turtle islands; we were, as we expected, too late for the turtles, but their recent tracks upon the sand and their holes were numerous.
At the upper part of the sandy beach there were the remains of an aboriginal festival.
Many old fire-places, cracking stones, break-winds, the soft shell of many a turtle's egg, with fragments of a turtle's carapace, were noticed about the ground.
Near our fire we observed a portion of a native canoe; it was the thicker end of one of the sticks, standing in the place of the ribs; from this specimen we suppose the natives to be in possession of sharp-edged tools, probably made from the same greenstone which they sharpen their spears with, because the end of the stick was formed by clean even cuts, with no sign of scraping; but as they do not require boring tools, the mangrove-sticks being evidently chosen when dry and capable of being fastened by driving a sharpened pine peg through them, as a carpenter would drive a nail through boards, they seem to be unacquainted with the use of them.
Moreover, the pine pegs drive easily through the dry mangroves, and it is only rarely we find the sticks split by the process.
...
When the natives visit this island in the dry season to enjoy a turtle feast they must bring the water from the mainland in shells; for these latter we sought carefully but unsuccessfully.

Page 268

2.—Report for the Information of His Excellency the Governor of Western Australia, and the Promoters of the North-Western Expedition of 1864, on the Voyage and the Resources of the Districts Explored.*

THE DISTRICT OF THE GLENELG;
CLIMATE, EXTENT, PASTORAL RESOURCES, AND GENERAL CAPABILITIES OF THE SOIL.



Indigenous Vegetable Productions.—
...
Fruits.—Amongst the edible indigenous fruits, those of the "quandang" or native peach-tree (Santalum preissianum) deserves first mention: the fruit, notwithstanding its thin pericarp and strongly acidulous taste, is grateful and largely available for food.
Other fruiting bushes of the same order (Santalaceæ) yield berries of a pleasant flavour.
...
Native Vegetables.—Amongst the indigenous plants available as culinary vegetables the fine bean, which grows so abundantly on the sand-hills of the coast, offers, when boiled, a nutritious diet: as a species it is as yet unnamed.
The pea, Abrus precatorius, is plentiful all over the district: its valuable properties as a legume are recognised even by the aborigines.
Horses eat greedily the branches, ripe seeds, and leaves.
Several herbaceous members of the small family Basellaceæ may be regarded as a substitute for spinach.
The amylaceous roots of the Dioscorea, "warrein", and Typha, "yun-jid" or "adjico", are here, as in the southern parts of Western Australia, important articles of vegetable food of the natives.
...
The waters of the district, both fresh and salt, are rich in products which await enterprise alone to raise them.
Foremost amongst these ranks the dugong (Halicore), a marine herbivorous animal included in the Cetacea, observed in both Doubtful Harbour and Camden Sound: its flesh alone, which is not unlike beef, would make it a welcome visitant; but regarded as the source of an invaluable oil, superior in a nearly twofold ratio to the best cod-liver oil, its annual visit would give rise to a fishery attended with greater profit, outlay and other things being taken into account, than that of the sperm oil.
The pearl oyster of commerce, the species valued for its nacreous substance, is undoubtedly to be found here plentifully, for the aborigines who would not be likely to undertake any excessive labour to procure them, very commonly wear them as an ornament suspended round the neck.
The Tridacna, a conchiferous mollusk, found upon any point of the coast between North-West Cape and the Prince Regent's River, might be included in the pearl-oyster fishery; for although its shell has no valuable nacreous lining, in it pearls of great beauty and of considerable size are not unfrequently obtained.
The trepang fishery could not be profitably carried on by Europeans.
Whales and seals have been more than once seen within the harbours of this district.
There are fine beds of oysters for the table in Brecknock Harbour: turtles, crabs, cray-fish, &c, abound.
Deep-sea fishery would in all probability be a profitable occupation.
The fresh-water streams teem with fish of large size and of excellent flavour.

Page 279

THE DISTRICT OF ROEBUCK BAY; CLIMATE, EXTENT, PASTORAL RESOURCES AND GENERAL CAPABILITIES OF THE SOIL.

...
In the native wells, which are found on these plains at intervals of not more than a mile, water is obtainable within 16 or 18 feet, whilst within the belt of Cajeputi trees it is found plentifully within 4 or 5 feet of the surface

Page 283
THE ABORIGINES OF THE DISTRICT OF ROEBUCK BAY.

The tribes of natives in the interior excel those of the sea-coast in bodily structure.
They are more muscular, taller, and apparently more intelligent; at any rate, the expression of their countenances is more pleasing: some of those we met had a profile more resembling that of a Polynesian, or a Keloenonesian of the first division (New Hebrides, &c.), rather than that of the second division to which the Australian belongs.
...
Foremost among the ornaments in common use by these people ranks the pearl-oyster shell of the coast.
The centre of this shell, that is, so much of it as can be ground into an oval shape whilst retaining the nacreous substance very nearly flat, is either worn plain or engraved. In the manufacture of these plain ornaments, nothing more is required than the grinding away of about two-thirds of the entire substance of the margin of the shell, the drilling of a hole through it near one end of the smaller diameter, and the suspending of the shell by one or more thicknesses of the native string.
But the more valued ornament, after passing through the processes enumerated, has its nacreous surface completely covered with a lace-like pattern composed of four and five sided figures, combined in a very curious manner and included within one or several parallel elliptical lines running equi-distant from the ground edge of the shell.
These figures composed of three or more series of the lines, are engraved to a depth of about .025 of an inch; then the spaces are filled up with a black pigment, a mixture of gum and charcoal.
...
As this race of people have no rivers or deep-sea inlets to cross, the craft already described as commonly used by the natives of the Glenelg district is of rare occurrence here.
The instrument of most general utility is in the form of a scoop; with this they dig wells, and the indigenous roots used as food; it is their basket and portmanteau: their water-jug and shovel.
It is of very varied size and shape, both these latter depending upon the elbow of the tree from which it is cut; so important an instrument is it, that as a rule it receives the highest possible degree of ornamentation; it is carved, sometimes inside and outside, with closely adjoining parallel lines, disposed in a zigzag pattern.
Some of the larger scoops are not carried from place to place with the tribe, but left beneath some bush in the neighbourhood of a well: these larger instruments are those which receive the maximum amount of decoration.
For cooking purposes they use large shells, species of Strombus and Triton; (the seed of the mangrove undergoes a most elaborate process in its preparation as an article of food).
They also make bags of kangaroo skin, fastened with a twine made of the fibres of an Anatherum, and a species of the Liliaceæ; a kind of twine is also made here of a mixture of opossum hair and vegetable fibre; another kind, which was found in use only as a means of suspending the engraved shells, was made of human hair alone.
...
The usual stone hatchet of the Australian native is everywhere found on this coast.
...
As concerning the natives of the sea-coast, it will suffice to state that they are inferior to the natives of the interior in physical development; they are less cleanly in their persons and less industrious in the chase.
The same extraordinary mutilation, referred to by the officers of the Beagle when describing the sea-coast tribes of this district (Stokes, vol. i., page 117) was observed by members of our expedition; but the custom does not extend beyond the tribes of the coast.
...




Page
86

Appendix 1: Discussion of the Paper by RGS Members, 22 January, 1866.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON VOLUME X,
pages 86-89, 22 January, 1866.
2. Explorations in North-Western Australia. By James Martin, Esq., M.B.

Appendix 2: Paper Read by Mr. C. A. Wilson, F.L.S., &C., on Tuesday, 29th May, 1866.

SUBJECT—THE LATE EXPLORATIONS OF THE WEST AND NORTH-WEST COASTS OF AUSTRALIA.

and I wish to draw particular attention to the report of Mr. Panter, a member of the second expedition.
In his journal- a clear and concise one- he says:-

"The day after my arrival at Brecknock Harbour I started inland with a party, consisting of Dr. Martin, Mr. David Shields (first mate of the vessel), and native (Dundale).

Footnotes
cooee
The word "cooee" originates from the Dharuk language of the original inhabitants of the Sydney area.
It means "come here", and has now become widely used in Australia as a call over distances.
It was known among white settlers in colonial times and Watkin Tench refers to the Aborigines of Sydney calling to each other in this way.
wikipedia- cooee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooee

Abrus precatorius L. subsp. precatorius
Climber, seeds are extremely toxic. Fl. purple-violet, Jan or Mar to Jul or Nov to Dec.
Sand, sandstone, limestone, basalt. Coastal areas, creeklines.

Department of
Parks and Wildlife Western Australian Herbar
ium- Grazyna Paczkowska,1996.
http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/16979

Tridacna
Tridacna is a genus of large saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the subfamily Tridacninae, the giant clams.
They have heavy shells, fluted with 4 to 6 folds.
The mantle is brightly coloured.
They inhabit shallow waters of coral reefs in warm seas of the Indo-Pacific region.

wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridacna


Martin James:
Explorations in North-Western Australia
.
Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 1865,
Volume XXXV, pages 237-289.
Communicated by the Governor of Western Australia, through the Colonial Office.

www.googlebooks
- Ned Overton,
May 2014.
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks14/1402201h.html#ch-01


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Geoff Cater (2014) : James Martin : Aboriginals of North-West Australia, 1863.
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1863_Martin_ NW_Aust.html