Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 30

My first object was, in my punishment, not to involve the innocent and guilty together, which is too often done by the Europeans in these colonies.

I therefore got hold of an intelligent native of the name of Moyee-e-nan, and, accompanied by him, visited the garden whence the potatoes had been stolen; he found the tracks of three natives and, availing himself of the faculty which they possess of telling who has pa.s.sed from their footmarks, he informed me that the three thieves had been the two wives of a native of the name Peerat, and a little boy named Dal-be-an, the son of Peerat. Being now well acquainted with the natives I was well satisfied that this evidence was of the most conclusive nature, and proceeded to act upon it by trying to arrest the delinquents; but I found that they had, immediately after committing the theft, walked off into the bush, thereby hoping to avoid suspicion and with the intention of remaining absent until the affair had blown over.

MEASURES FOR APPREHENDING THEM.

My mind was soon made up to pursue my friend Peerat and his fugitive wives, but it was necessary that I should proceed with great caution in order not to alarm the guilty parties when they saw us approaching, in which case I should have had no chance of apprehending them; and I did not intend to adopt the popular system of shooting them when they ran away. I therefore determined to take no Europeans, but only four natives who could track the delinquents.

Previously however to my quitting the town one gentleman joined me, and thus reinforced we started on Peerat's tracks; these we followed for about seven miles in a west by north direction from the settlement, when we suddenly saw the bush set on fire and thus became aware of our proximity to a party of natives. My European friend was here unfortunately taken ill, and, as the natives were evidently more numerous than I expected to have found them, I was sorry to lose his services at this period; he however faithfully promised to await my return, and I thus knew that I had a point d'appui to retire on in the event of anything taking place.

Accompanied by the natives I now pressed forward in the direction of the fire, and, after proceeding for about two miles further in a west by north direction, I fell in with several natives, one of whom was old Tooleegatwalee, well known in the settlement. I at once intimated to Mr.

Tooleegatwalee and his friends the object of my mission; I told them that Peerat's wives and son had stolen potatoes, that I had come out to make them prisoners, that if they were given up to me they should only undergo the regular punishment for petty theft; but if they were not delivered over that I would stop the regular allowance of flour which was issued to all the natives every two months, thus punis.h.i.+ng them all; and that I would moreover return home, and then come out with a party of soldiers and fire upon Peerat and his party wherever I found them. This last part of my announcement was made in a very decided tone, and with a most ferocious look.

NATIVE DELIBERATIONS.

The natives hereupon entered into a deliberation amongst themselves, and eventually were unanimously agreed on several points, as follows:

1. That stealing potatoes was a very heinous offence, more particularly in women.

2, That women were notorious thieves, and altogether worse characters than men.

3, That beating women was an every-day occurrence.

4, That losing flour was a great bore; and

5, That in consequence of the above considerations, they would give Peerat, his wives, and son, up to me.

Each of these propositions was lengthily discussed by them, but when they were all agreed to, they came in a body and asked me, did I speak the truth, and lie not, when I said that I myself was not angry with Peerat and his wives, and that they should not be killed but only slightly punished? I a.s.sured them that I told the truth, and lied not. We then proceeded in a body in search of Peerat, whom we found with some more natives about half a mile further on.

DISCUSSION WITH PEERAT.

He waited quietly to receive us, not having indeed the slightest idea of what was the object of my unexpected visit; when however he heard what I wanted he abused his wives in most unmeasured terms, and a.s.sured me that he would thrash them soundly, but as to giving them up prisoners, or his son either, that he declared he would not do; and then very openly and fairly challenged any one of the other natives, or all of them together, to take him up, a.s.suring them that he would spear the first man through the heart that attempted to lay a finger on him. I interfered so far in this dispute as to announce to Peerat that I considered my own person as sacred, and I then c.o.c.ked both barrels of my double-barrelled gun and concluded by a.s.suring him I should shoot him if he resisted me.

All native altercations are vociferous and noisy in the extreme, and are usually accompanied with a great deal of running and leaping about and quivering of spears; these circ.u.mstances I now took advantage of, and, whilst the others threatened to spear one another in all imaginable places, I wended my solitary way towards Peerat's fire, where I discovered Master Dalbean, but could see nothing whatever of the ladies, who, I presume, were absent digging roots.

HIS PLEADINGS FOR HIS SON.

The young native was seized hold of before he could attempt to escape, and, as I told him if he now moved I should shoot him, he accompanied me very quietly; the others meanwhile capering about and abusing one another in the distance. Peerat however soon found out what had taken place and came running after me. These natives are always ardently attached to their children, and this the boy's father now evinced in the strongest manner: he first of all declared that the boy had been asleep with him, and that it was the mother only who had stolen; and he produced about a dozen witnesses who all a.s.serted that this was the case. I however refuted this evidence by mentioning the fact of his footmarks being in the garden. They then urged that Peerat's second wife had also been engaged in the theft, and that she was just the size of the boy; this however again was over-ruled from the fact of her footmarks having been also seen there.

PEERAT'S SON SECURED.

The father now urged upon me the youth of the boy, and that he was under the influence of the mother, and then fairly wept upon his child's neck, who begged his father, and all the other natives by name, to save him. I was now holding him by the wrist, for the feeling of the public began at this affecting exhibition to turn against me, even my own natives urging me to let the little fellow go; had I followed the dictates of my own heart I should have done so, but I knew that by being in this instance very determined I should effect eventually much good. I therefore held fast by my prisoner. I now saw some of the other natives giving Peerat spears, which is always a sign that they espouse a man's quarrel and expect him to make use of the weapons they give him. As matters therefore now were rather a serious aspect, I again told Peerat that I personally had no cause of quarrel with him, but that I was resolved not to allow either the natives to wrong the Europeans or the Europeans to wrong the natives; that it was far better for the natives themselves that I, an impartial person, should see that they were properly punished for theft, than that the Europeans should fire indiscriminately upon them, as had lately been done in another quarter; that I should now talk no more, but that if he did not instantly take himself off and bring his wives in to the settlement to be punished I would shoot him. He proceeded again to answer me, but I cut him short by saying that if he spoke again I would shoot him at once; I thus had the last speech and therefore, as a matter of course, was in possession of the public favour: Peerat was consequently hurried off by his friends, whilst myself, the young prisoner, and two of the natives who had accompanied me, started on our return for the settlement.

Although the affair had so far terminated well I was by no means sure that Peerat might not after my departure induce the others to attempt a rescue. I therefore hurried on to the spot where I had left my European friend, but I only found a slip of paper on a tree, with the following words on it: "Returned slowly to the settlement." We moved rapidly on again and reached Albany without further adventure, and on our arrival I lodged Dalbean in the jail.

January 24.

Peerat did not bring in his wives, and to all the solicitations which were offered me on the part of the natives for the release of my little prisoner I answered that, when Peerat's wives were brought in and given over to the hands of justice, I would punish the boy and release him; but if the other delinquents were not given up I should conceive it to be a sign that the natives were not satisfied with my decision, and therefore send the boy on to Swan River to be tried. I further added that, if Peerat did not in the course of the next day appear with his wives, I should cease to act as mediator, and taking a party of soldiers would go out and apprehend him.

HIS ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE.

January 25.

This morning information was given me that little Dalbean had made an attempt to break out of jail. I therefore went up to the jail with another magistrate and found that the little fellow had yesterday, during the absence of the turnkey, taken up a loose stone from the floor and had battered a hole in the door with it. It evinced altogether more strength and determination than one could have supposed such a boy to have been endowed with. When I taxed him with it he stoutly denied it, a.s.serting that whilst he was asleep sorcerers from the north, who had a spite against him, had entered the cell through some airholes in the wall and had done this; and in spite of all our cross-questioning and charging him with falsehood he still persisted in the same tale, and really appeared to think that he could persuade us of the truth of the a.s.sertion. I told him that it was his duty to have taken care that these sorcerers had not injured the door, and that in future if he did not give the alarm when they came he should be well whipped for neglect, and that in the meantime I had a great mind to have him whipped for telling a story; I however satisfied myself by giving him a severe lecture upon the crime of lying.

He defended himself upon this head by ingenious arguments, altogether overlooking the abstract question of whether lying was a virtue or a vice, and defending himself solely upon the plea of its general usefulness and prevalence in the world. I got rather worsted in the argument, and therefore, confining myself to admonitions and a few common-place maxims, I departed.

PEERAT'S WIVES SURRENDERED. THEIR PUNISHMENT.

In the course of the forenoon Peerat presented himself at my window. The tale he told was a very pitiful one. He had two wives, and to govern them both required no ordinary ability; he a.s.sured me that he had beaten them both soundly, but notwithstanding he could not induce them to come into the settlement until, finally losing his temper, he had threatened to spear them, and had thus induced them to follow him; he a.s.sured me that he had done nothing but weep and lament since he had last seen me, at one time for the loss of his son, and then again at the obstinacy and bad temper of his wives, and as some recompense for his sufferings he begged to be allowed to beat his wives himself.

I told him to bring them at once to the garden they had robbed, and then, followed by several natives, I repaired to the appointed place. The native women soon appeared, dreadfully cut and mangled from the beating they had already suffered. One was a nice-looking girl, about fourteen, but an incorrigible thief. Peerat threw back his skin to give his arm fair play, and then, brandis.h.i.+ng his meerro, was going to hit her a tremendous blow upon the head, which must have laid it open. The poor girl stood with her back towards her husband, trembling and crying bitterly. I caught Peerat's arm, picked up a little switch from the ground, and told him to beat her on the shoulders with that. He gave her two slight blows, or rather taps, in order to know where it was I meant him to strike; but the poor girl cried so bitterly from fear that I stopped him, told her that for this time she should be pardoned, and then called the other woman up, but she had already been severely beaten and had at that moment a little child sitting on her shoulder, who cried piteously when he saw his mother weeping, so I let her also go free.

Before they started however I gave them and the a.s.sembled natives a lecture, talking to them in a ferocious style about my future intentions in the event of robbery being committed, and warning them not to judge of me from my present clemency.

During the five months I had been at King George's Sound this was the first act of petty theft, or indeed of theft of any kind, committed by the natives; there had on several occasions been as many as two hundred in the settlement who had no means of subsistence but a chance job from the colonists, and the spontaneous productions of the earth, yet during that period the only criminals had been those above mentioned, namely, a woman, a girl, and a boy, who had rooted up some potatoes from a retired garden, and they had even purposely left the large potatoes and had only taken away the small ones, in the hope that by so doing they would lessen the crime.

RELEASE OF PEERAT'S SON.

In the afternoon I walked up to the jail attended by Peerat, his wives, and a crowd of natives, to release little Dalbean. Peerat and myself alone entered the jail; I told the jailor to hand him the whip, he took it, and said, "Yes, yes, I will strike him; let not another beat him, Governor."

The door of the cell was then opened and the little boy was led out: his father ran up to him, caught him in his arms, and began kissing him; having done this he told him he was going to beat him. The little fellow did not answer a word, but, standing as firm and erect as possible, presented his back to him, the father gave him one blow, and it was ended--justice was satisfied; the criminals had surrendered to salutary laws, of which they had but a vague and undefined knowledge. It was their first offence; I explained to them the nature of the laws they had broken, warned them to be careful in their future conduct, and let them go. Little Dalbean, directly we got outside the jail, walked up to me, took my hand, and squeezed it, and then turned to his mother; he just looked at her, she cried, but did not dare to kiss him, or to show any symptom of emotion; and the whole party, after showering thanks innumerable upon my head, moved off, saying, "What a good fellow--what a good fellow;" or, to give a literal translation, "One good man--one good man."

Sunday January 26.

Old Manniotte, a native dressed in an old uniform, attended the church service as usual this day and was apparently as attentive as any other member of the congregation.

JUDICIAL CASE OF a.s.sAULT.

February 14.

This evening a native came up to me as I was in the Commissary's house, and said: "Djanga kain nganya goree bomb-gur"; "A white man has just struck me." At the same time he showed me his side which was severely bruised. I accompanied him to the beach and there found a number of liberty men from some American whalers walking about. There were also several natives on the beach who were in a state of great excitement, and came hurrying up to me. I had sent for the constable, and as I was coming up I saw a sailor moving off to the boats, on which the natives all shouted out, "Now, now, walk away."

The natives were soon satisfied that strict justice would be done them, and as the sailor who had struck the native was a man belonging to the Russel, commanded by Captain Long, who had previously taken me to Shark Bay, it was arranged with him that the offender should be brought before me at 11 o'clock the next day to answer the charge.

February 15.

This morning Taalwurt the native, attended by his various friends, came to me before I went to the Courthouse, to insist upon his right to speak first, as he appeared to think that a great deal depended upon his having this advantage over his opponent. I explained to him that, as plaintiff, this right of course belonged to him, and he thereupon withdrew, followed by his adherents. At the appointed hour I repaired to the Courthouse and found the natives a.s.sembled; the Europeans had not yet arrived. I called therefore upon Taalwurt for an information, which was as follows:

THE ACCUSATION. ATTEMPTS AT ELOQUENCE. ADJUDICATION OF THE CASE.

Colony of Western Australia, to wit: The information and complaint of Taalwurt Tdondarup, of Albany, in the said Colony, made before me, George Grey, Esquire, one of H.M. Justices of the Peace in and for the said Colony, the fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty.

The said Taalwurt Tdondarup complaineth and saith:

"Nganya kype yoor-ril gool-gur, boye bomb-gur."

"I in the water carelessly walked along, a stone struck me."

But at this point his eloquence totally deserted him, and he was pulled back by his friends, who pushed forward another native, and who stated as follows:

Lindoll Mongalung saith: "Wal-bur wat-to Taalwurt: Djanga Taalwurt kyle-gut bomb-gur.