When Sir Thomas reached Portland Bay he noticed that when a whale appeared in the bay the natives were accustomed to send up a column of smoke, thus giving timely intimation to all the whalers. If the whale should be perceived by one boat's crew only, it might be taken; but if pursued by several, it would probably be run ashore and become food for the blacks.[1]
Jardine, writing of the natives of Cape York, says that "communication between the islanders and the natives of the mainland is frequent; and the rapid manner in which news is carried from tribe to tribe to great distances is astonishing. I was informed of the approach of H.M.S. Salamander on her last visit two days before her arrival here. Intelligence is conveyed by means of fires made to throw smoke up in different forms, and by messengers who perform long and rapid journeys."[2]
Messengers in all parts of Australia appear to have used this mode of signalling. In Victoria, when travelling through the forest, they were accustomed to raise smoke by filling the hollow of a tree with green boughs and setting fire to the trunk at its base; and in this way, as they always selected an elevated position for the fire when they could, their movements were made known.
When engaged in hunting, when travelling on secret expeditions, when approaching an encampment, when threatened with danger, or when foes menaced their friends, the natives made signals by raising a smoke. And their fires were lighted in such a way as to give forth signals that would be understood by people of their own tribe and by friendly tribes. They exhibited great ability in managing their system of telegraphy; and in former times it was not seldom used to the injury of the white settlers, who, at first, had no idea that the thin column of smoke rising through the foliage of the adjacent bush, and raised perhaps by some feeble old woman, was an intimation to the warriors to advance and attack the Europeans.
Oaths.
Capt. Grey makes a remarkable statement respecting the mode in which the natives swear amity to one another, or pledge themselves to aid one another in avenging a death. He says it is exactly the form referred to in Genesis, ch. xxiv., v. 9:—"One native remains seated on the ground with his heels tucked under him, in the Eastern manner; the one who is about to narrate a death to him approaches slowly, and with averted face, and seats himself cross-legged upon the thighs of the other; they are thus placed thigh to thigh, and squeezing their bodies together they place breast to breast—both then avert their faces, their eyes frequently fill with tears—no single word is spoken; and the one who is seated uppermost places his hands under the thighs of his friend; having remained thus seated for a minute or two, he rises up and withdraws to a little distance without speaking—but an inviolable pledge to avenge the death has by this ceremony passed between them."
