Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 20

Wrist : - : Mardalliah.

Thumb : Gamar : Marang-unga.

First finger : - : Mara-mamal.

Second finger : - : Mara-cudejip.

Third finger : - : Mara-cudejip.

Little finger : - : Mara-colun.

Nails : - : Bere.

Back : - : Goon goh.

Loins : - : Moondo.

Hips : - : Corlge.

b.u.t.tocks : - : Mooro.

Hip joint : - : -.

Thigh : - : Dahwool.

Knee : - : Bonnet.

Leg : Adjirt-adjirt : Mattah.

Hams : - : Yallee.

Ankle : - : Bilgah Heel : - : Geenang hooran.

Foot : Ingalmulbil : Geenang c.o.o.ngoh.

Instep : - : Geenang guerack.

Toes : Rujut-bullal : Chenang ungah.

Breast : - : Undoo.

Belly : Angonidjark : Cabollo.

Breast (woman) : - : Bebe.

Navel : - : Bilye.

Woman : Wari-comomo : Babelyah.

Man : Iwala : Medah.

To run, stoop, hide, crouch, when about to rain : Kiddi kit mya warra.

To go a long distance : Maran dugon bordeneuk.

To cut up an animal of any kind for roasting : Dedayah killa, kuirderkan, ki ti kit.

To cover up, to keep warm : Borga koorejalah kunah.

For roasting : Ki ti kit.

To cut up : Kurerkna.

Give me some water : Yahago cabe.

I'm very thirsty : Gangah.

To carry the pickaninee : Colanganee wandung.

Here carry the pickaninee (strong expression) : Colang maranga barang wandung.

Give me some money : Anyah (or ana) yunagh, uddah.

No money, go away : Neundoh barang gerangah.

You have money : Anyah yungagah uddah.

I go to sleep : Unyah begang undagah.

To sneeze : Neyetta.

A tree : Boono.

Vegetation generally : Jibbah.

Gra.s.s : Bobo.

Long gra.s.s : Bobo wal-yur-deg.

NAMES OF SNAKES OF SWAN RIVER.

Waggile.

Noo no.

Si Dubat.

w.a.n.g go.

Bije modo.

Cocongorun.

Beara.

Poolyar.

Uur-nah.

Iguana.

Aunderah.

LIZARDS OF ABROLHOS, AS WELL AS SWAN RIVER.

Uundung.

Jinerarah.

Jeregarah.

When the weather became fine, we ran over to Gage Road.

ERECT BEACONS AT ROTTNEST.

October 11.

We again visited Rottnest in the s.h.i.+p (Lieutenant Roe the Surveyor-General, accompanying us) for the purpose of erecting beacons on the rocks lying off the points of Thomson's Bay, as marks for leading clear to the eastward of the Champion Rock. We were happy to have an opportunity of rendering this important service to the colonists, who acknowledged it in a very handsome manner.

Another object in crossing over to Rottnest was to avoid a north-west breeze which came on the next day; on the 15th we again returned to Gage Road.

ANECDOTES OF A WILD DOG.

Whilst we were at Swan River this time, a wish I had long entertained of procuring a pup of the wild breed of dogs* of the country, was gratified.

It was a b.i.t.c.h, and left in the hollow of a tree by her mother who had just escaped. Knowing that they hunt kangaroos in packs, and have excellent noses, I was anxious to try if something useful might not be made out of a cross with the fox-hound; and with this view on my arrival in England, I gave her to my cousin, Mr. G. Lort Phillips; but she died in a fit soon after coming into his possession. Whilst with me she had two litters of pups by a pointer, three each time, the first at two years, and the second after an interval of ten months. At these times she was particularly savage, and would take the opportunity of paying off any old grudge she might have against those who had ill-used her--for she never forgot an injury--by stealing after them and snapping at their heels. She was very much attached to her young; one day I took her on sh.o.r.e and she kept catching birds to bring to them, supplying them, as an over-fond mother will do, with a superfluity of good things.

(*Footnote. I am informed by Colonel Owen Phillips, 56th B.N.I., formerly a.s.sistant-Resident at Maca.s.sar, that he saw four wild dogs brought to Sir Stamford Raffles at Java, which bore a very strong resemblance to the animals mentioned in the text.)

I was very much interested in this animal, and took a great deal of pains to tame her, though I never fully succeeded. Her nose, as I have said, was excellent; and though quite mute she could hunt very well, as I found by repeated trials when out rabbit shooting. She would never leave a hole, working at it with her feet and teeth until she got at the inmate.

These qualities confirmed me in my opinion that a cross with the fox-hound would produce a good result. As an ill.u.s.tration of her keenness of smell, I may mention that one day when we were lying in the Tamar river, she winded some sheep on the bank, and was instantly overboard and after them, swimming so rapidly that she had reached the land, and, though herself only the size of a large dog-fox, had pulled down a fine ram before a party could get on sh.o.r.e to prevent her. When they landed, instead of trying to make her escape, she slunk into the boat. This freak of hers cost me five pounds.

PECULIARITIES OF THE WILD DOG.

In cold weather her coat was always best, and the brush on her tail most perfect. She was of a light tan colour, with a little white on the tip of the tail, and a few black hairs sprinkled in the brush; there was a little black also about her face. Her step was light and stealthy; and in her eye meekness and cunning were curiously blended. Though very shy of man, when once taken up in the arms she lay as quiet as a cat; but with all dogs she was very quarrelsome, fighting savagely with a greyhound b.i.t.c.h I had on board, and several times nearly killing a small dog. It was always difficult to catch her, as she would generally manage to escape either between the legs or by springing over the shoulders, except when we were going on sh.o.r.e; then she would allow herself very quietly to be put into the boat; but on our return the difficulty was how to get her off, and it became necessary to pounce upon her suddenly. She was never heard to bark, the only noise she ever made being the dismal howl peculiar to her breed, and this only when tied up, which consequently, for the sake of peace, was but of short duration, and always had to be done with a chain, as she would instantly bite through a rope. Her mischievous propensity was remarkable, as she often stole into the officers' cabin and pulled books down from the shelves, tearing the backs off and then destroying the leaves. As an instance of her sure-footedness and activity I may mention that I have seen her leap twice her own height from the stem of the mids.h.i.+p boat, in endeavouring to seize fowls or meat that was hung on the mainstay, always alighting on the point she sprang from. At other times she would attempt to crawl up it like a cat, in order to steal what was there. Her p.r.o.neness to thieving was very great; I have frequently seen her eating stolen things when she would refuse what was offered her; it was never safe to take her near poultry.

GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Whilst in this locality I may take the opportunity of introducing a few notes on the geological formation of the country in the neighbourhood of Swan River, furnished by Mr. Bynoe:

The most remarkable feature is the absence or scantiness of the secondary and transition rocks; all the tertiary appears to be of the newest kind, and to lie in juxtaposition with the primary. This character forms the sandy margin from the Darling Range, or chain of granite hills, nearly 2000 feet high to the sea, in the immediate vicinity of which the sand is bounded by a calcareous form of limestone, and, where jutting into the sea and forming perpendicular or overhanging cliffs, the faces are thrown into a beautiful kind of fretwork (See volume 1) of more compactness than the surrounding ma.s.s. In most places about the neighbourhood of Fremantle, sh.e.l.ls are found of the existing species along the coast, firmly impacted in its substance, particularly a large species of buccinum, as well as the strombus. This calcareous formation has been traced as far north as Shark's Bay; it crosses over to the Abrolhos Group, there frequently lying over a coral formation, and forming in many places cavities of a cylindrical figure, of some few feet in depth. Beds of clays, varying in quality and colour, are to be met with on sandy margins, containing particles of gypsum.