Sometimes a tree is climbed with the help of a rope made of the fibre of stringybark. The rope is passed round the trunk of the tree and the body of the climber, and is so adjusted as to fit into the small of the man's back. His tomahawk is kept in his waist-belt. The rope is held by the hands; the body is pressed against the tree, and by quickly jerking the rope upwards a tall trunk is very easily climbed. Mr. Howitt obtained information respecting this method from two natives of Gippsland, who, when they saw the sketch he had made, expressed themselves as highly delighted. They suggested an alteration, and when that was effected, they exclaimed, "Ko-ki! berry good! that fellow all right now!"
In Queensland the native makes use of the strong creepers or climbing plants, instead of a rope, and ascends a tree with great ease.[1]
FIG. 16
Fig. 16, showing a native of Queensland in the act of ascending a tree, is from a photograph.
Signals.
The natives have an easy method of telegraphing news to their distant friends. When Sir Thomas Mitchell was travelling through Eastern Australia, he often saw columns of smoke ascending through the trees in the forests, and he soon learnt that the natives used the smoke of fires for the purpose of making known his movements to their friends. Near Mount Frazer he observed a dense column of smoke, and subsequently other smokes arose, extending in a telegraphic line far to the south along the base of the mountains, and thus communicating to the natives who might be upon his route homewards the tidings of his return.
- ↑ The Indians of South America climb trees with the assistance of a hoop of wild vines; and a similar method is adopted in Ceylon and in some parts of Africa.—See Tylor's Early History of Mankind, 1870, p. 173.
