other portion of any side of it. The statements of Macgillivray and Mr. Brierly show clearly that I was wrong in this. Still the generality of Australian trees are ill adapted for such a purpose. It was always said in the Australian Colonies that none of the native woods would float in water. Whether that be true or not, almost all the large trees of the greater part of Australia are at the same time heavy, hard, and brittle, readily splitting into slabs or splinters, but not easily cut across the grain. It is probably in great measure the nature of their woods which has prevented the Australians from becoming as advanced in the arts of life as the Papuans, who have in New Guinea not only large canoes of solid timber, but powerful bows, and large, well-constructed houses, built on the stumps of stout trees, all cut down to one uniform level by stone hatchets not very much superior to those used by the Australians. I am not speaking of what might be done by Europeans with Australian woods, but solely endeavouring to learn the condition of the Australians before they came into contact with either Papuans, Malays, or Europeans. My own impression was that their intercourse with the former had not been of very much earlier date than that with either of the latter, and that it was from the Papuan Islanders of Torres Straits that the art of canoe-making was making its way among the Australians when they were first visited by Europeans. It appeared to me that this art had spread from Torres Straits, as from a centre, down the east coast to Twofold Bay and Cape Howe, and along the north coast not nearly so far, in consequence of the great indentation of the Gulf of Carpentaria, with its barren and therefore uninviting shores. I feel sure that we were told at Port Essington that the natives had no wooden canoes before that coast was visited by the Malays. Can any one now give any certain information as to Port Phillip before it was colonized? Had the natives any canoes there? And what kind of canoes were they?"[1]
It is not necessary to add anything to the statements already made respecting the use of canoes by the natives of Australia, nor to reply to the questions put by the late Mr. Beete Jukes. The letters which appeared in the Athenæum show how things the most obvious may be overlooked altogether, or, if seen, misunderstood, by trained observers of the highest ability. And travellers, who have to depend on hastily-made observations, or on the apparently accurate accounts of settlers less informed than themselves, should refrain from too hastily drawing conclusions.
- ↑ Athenæum, p. 431, 29th March 1862.
