I Was Greatly Pleased At Such
Successful Steering For A First Attempt Of Any Distance, And Luck Was As
Pleased As I Was, For To Him I Owed Many Useful Hints.
Yet I was not blind
to the fact that it was a wonderful piece of luck to strike exactly a
small spot of no more than fifty acres in extent, hidden in the valleys of
the sandhills, from whose summits nothing could be seen but similar mounds
of white sand.
Amongst the white gum trees we found one marked with
Lindsay's initials with date. Under this I nailed on a piece of tin, on
which I had stamped our names and date. Probably the blacks have long
since taken this down and used it as an ornament. Another tree, a pine,
was marked W. Blake; who he was I do not know, unless one of Lindsay's
party. Not far off was a grave, more like that of a white man than of a
native; about its history, too, I am ignorant.
Numerous old native camps surrounded the water, and many weapons, spears,
waddies, and coolimans were lying about. The camps had not been occupied
for some long time. In the scrub we came on a cleared space, some eighty
yards long and ten to twelve feet wide. At each end were heaps of ashes,
and down the middle ran a well-beaten path, and a similar one on either
side not unlike an old dray track. Evidently a corroboree ground of some
kind. From Luck I learnt that north of Eucla, where he had been with a
survey party, the natives used such grounds in their initiation
ceremonies. A youth on arriving at a certain age may become a warrior,
and is then allowed to carry a shield and spear. Before he can attain this
honour he must submit to some very horrible rites - which are best left
undescribed. Seizing each an arm of the victim, two stalwart "bucks"
(as the men are called) run him up and down the cleared space until they
are out of breath; then two more take places, and up and down they go
until at last the boy is exhausted. This is the aboriginal method of
applying anaesthetics. During the operations that follow, the men dance
and yell round the fires but the women may not be witnesses of the
ceremony. Tribes from all neighbouring districts meet at such times and
hold high revel. Evidently Queen Victoria Spring is a favourite
meeting-place. I regret that I never had the chance of being present at
such a gathering - few white men have. For except in thickly populated
districts the ceremonies are rare; the natives are very ready to resent
any prying into their mysteries, and Luck only managed it at some risk to
himself. Whilst camped at the Spring we made one or two short excursions
to the southward, but met with little encouragement. On turning our
attention to the opposite direction we found that nearly two hundred miles
due north a tract of auriferous country was marked on the map of the Elder
Expedition.
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