Having Secured Our Game, We Returned To The Boat, And After Plucking And
Splitting Open The Birds, Some Were Roasted Over The Fire For Immediate
Use, But By Far The Greater Number Were Boiled In A Pot, Which Was Portion
Of The Boat's Furniture When On An Expedition.
One of the troopers had
with a tomahawk stripped off a sheet of bark, and on this was manufactured
a gigantic damper.
For the information of such of my readers as may be
unacquainted with Australia, I must explain that damper is unleavened
bread, well kneaded and baked in the ashes. But simple though such a rough
form of loaf may seem from the above description, it is in reality a very
difficult thing to turn out a thoroughly good damper, and only practice
will enable the new-comer to obtain the sleight of hand necessary for the
production of a first-rate specimen. In form a damper resembles a flat
cheese of two or three inches thick, and from one to two feet in diameter.
Great care and much practice are requisite to form this shape so that no
cracks shall appear, and when this is done the work is by no means over,
for the exact heat of the fire must be judged by the cook, otherwise he
will either burn up his dough, or it will come out a crude, sodden,
uneatable mass. A good wood fire that has been burning several days, and
has gained a quantity of ashes, is the best; but wood is plentiful enough
in the bush, and if you only know the right kind to use, you find no
difficulty in soon providing yourself with a glorious heap of glowing
embers. Scraping away a hole in the centre of the fire a little larger
than the disc, you gently drop it in with your hands, strew it over with
enough powdery white ash to prevent the embers coming into actual contact
with the dough, and then cover the whole with the glowing coals. Only
practice can enable the bushman to judge the exact depth of this layer,
which, of course, differs in every case, according to the size of the
damper. It is left in this fiery bed until small cracks appear on the
covering caused by the steam forcing its way out. This is a sign that it
is nearly done, confirmation of which is sought by introducing a
knife-blade through the ashes, and sounding the crust. If this gives back
a hard sound, the damper may be considered cooked, and is then withdrawn,
stood carefully 'on its edge' - never forget this - and is ready to eat
when cool.
As there was nothing very particular to do that afternoon, we watched the
troopers spearing fish, in which they were most skilful. There is in some
of the Australian rivers a splendid fish, called the 'Barrimundi', which
not only much resembles the salmon in appearance, but, like it, requires
running water and access to the sea. Many a time I have vainly tried to
lure them from their watery depths, but no bait would tempt them that I
could ever hit on, though I have little doubt that a fly or artificial
minnow would prove killing. We could see them in the Macalister, lying
with their heads pointed up stream, and seemingly motionless but for the
slight waving of the tail that retained them in their places. Having cut
several slender switches, not thicker than a tobacco-pipe stem, and
sharpened one end with a knife, the trooper Ferdinand, who was by far the
most expert among his brethren, grasped this apparently inoffensive little
weapon between the thumb and middle finger, whilst the blunt end rested
against the ball of the forefinger. Stooping down, he approached to within
four or five yards of the fish, which were only a few inches from the
surface, and suddenly jerking his switch forward, it entered the water
almost horizontally, and rarely failed to transfix a 'Barri mundi', which,
darting forward, was soon hampered by the weapon catching in the weeds, and
became the prey of its sharp-eyed captor, who had never lost sight of it in
its endeavour to escape. This fish is excellent eating, and averages from
eight to thirty pounds in weight.
As Dunmore and I were strolling along a small lagoon overgrown with
water-lilies, he pointed out to me a pretty graceful little bird, about the
size of a jack-snipe, but with longer legs, and most extraordinary claws.
I am ashamed to say I shot this poor little fellow, to examine him, and
found that each toe measured at least three inches from the leg to the
extremity of the claw. This is to enable the bird to run along safely over
the floating leaves of the lotus, on which plant it seems to get its
living. I had never seen one before; and the simple manner in which Nature
had adapted it to its peculiar line of life struck me as both curious and
beautiful. What this little bird's scientific name is I never heard, but
we colonists call it the "Lotus bird."
As there was a remote chance of the party left with the boats coming in
contact with the blacks, it was deemed advisable to leave them a trooper,
who would more readily recognise their whereabouts than the white men;
therefore a boy known by the not euphonious sobriquet of "Killjoy," was
selected to remain with the pilot and his two boatmen, and after dividing
the big meat damper in five equal portions, the exploring party, consisting
of Dunmore, Ferdinand, Larry, Lizzie and myself, struck out for the opening
in the scrub on the Mackay river. We descended into the sandy bed, and
crossed to the opposite side, which was much more open country, consisting
of park-like land, lightly timbered, but the soil not nearly so rich as the
fertile plain through which wound the Macalister.
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