Australian Search Party eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 111 pages of information about Australian Search Party.

Australian Search Party eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 111 pages of information about Australian Search Party.
approached we perceived a greyish-looking form on a large limb about ten feet from the ground, and a closer inspection revealed to us that it was unmistakably the body of a white man, rolled up in tea-tree bark, and kept in its position by fastenings of split cane.  We could not examine the corpse very minutely, for it was too offensive; but from the portions of the face that still remained, and the long blonde locks and red beard, we satisfied ourselves that the poor wanderer was not one of the ‘Eva’s’ crew; indeed, we judged that his death must have taken place some time before the loss of that vessel.  We were much pleased to observe the respect with which the natives had treated the remains, and as they think that exposure either on a platform or in a tree is the most honourable way in which a corpse can be disposed of, we left the body as we found it, and returned to the camp, where we passed the night.

Our damper was now at an end, and we had no flour with us, so made up our minds to return to the boat.  On talking the matter over, it seemed quite clear that the shipwrecked men had never been thrown on this part of the coast, and that any further exploration would only be lost time.  On the following morning we presented the tribe with our knives, and some matches, and taking a friendly leave of them, started for the Macalister, accompanied by two of the warriors.  We reached the boat on the sixth day, found the pilot and his party well, and having dismissed the blacks, with the present of a tomahawk and a blanket, we started at once for the place lower down the river, which had been agreed upon with Jack Clark as a rendezvous.  When we arrived at this spot on the following day, the horsemen had not turned up, so we amused ourselves as best we could, fishing, shooting, and eating damper thickly plastered over with honey, for Larry had found a “sugar bag.”

The way the trooper performed this feat was not a little ingenious.  Having noticed several bees about, he caught one, and with a little gum, attached to it a piece of down from a large owl that somebody had shot.  Releasing the insect, it flew directly towards its nest, the unaccustomed burden with which it was laden serving not only to make it easily visible, but also impeding its flight sufficiently to admit of the boy following it.  The next was at the top of a large blue gum tree, about three feet in diameter, and sending up a smooth column for fifty feet without a branch or twig.  Most people would have given up all thoughts of a honey feed for the day; not so Mr. Larry, whose movements we followed with considerable curiosity.  Divesting himself of his clothing, he repaired to an adjoining scrub, and with his tomahawk cut out a piece of lawyer cane twenty feet in length.  Having stripped this of its husk, he wove it into a hoop round the tree of just sufficient size to admit his body.  Slinging his tomahawk and a fishing-line round his neck, he got inside the hoop, and allowing

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Australian Search Party from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.