[Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 2 (of 2) by George Grey]@TWC D-Link bookJournals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North-West And Western Australia, Vol. 2 (of 2) CHAPTER 14 7/26
The cries of the hunters, as they ring through the ancient woods, are very expressive and beautiful, each different intonation belonging to a particular period of the hunt.
And what renders them peculiarly effective is that, instead of beginning as we always do with a soft aspiration, as in Hollo, Ho, etc., their cries always commence with a harsh sound, as kau; and this circumstance enables them to talk at a great distance so as to be perfectly intelligible to one another.
Sometimes in deep wooded valleys I have heard gentle fairy-like sounds coming down from the heights, and rendered so soft and sweet by distance that one might readily have fancied them to be supernatural, yet the natives with me readily understood them, and shouted back their reply: this harsh commencement of their shout gives one also a terrible start when surprised in a murderous attack. HUNTING KANGAROO BY THE TRACKS. Four other modes of taking kangaroos are practised by the natives: these are, catching them in nets, in pitfalls, lying in wait near their watering places until they come to drink, and constantly following their tracks until the animals are so wearied out that they will allow the huntsman to approach near enough to spear them.
Of these four modes the last two are the most interesting, and the former is thus practised: in a dry district, where numerous animals congregate from a great distance to drink at a solitary water, the huntsman constructs a rude shelter in which for hours he remains concealed and motionless until the thirsty animals approach; kangaroos, cockatoos, pigeons, and all other beings that run and fly are in this case indiscriminately sacrificed, and the patient endurance of the hunter is generally richly rewarded by the booty he obtains. But the mode of tracking a kangaroo until it is wearied out is the one which beyond all others excites the admiration of the natives; this calls out every qualification prized by savages: skill in tracking, endurance of hunger and thirst, unwearied bodily exertion, and lasting perseverance.
To perform this feat a native starts upon the tracks of a kangaroo, which he follows until he sights it, when it flies timidly before him; again he pursues the track, and again the animal bounds from him; and this is repeated until nightfall, when the native lights his fire and sleeps upon the track; with the first light of day the hunt is resumed, and towards the close of the second day, or in the course of the third, the kangaroo falls a victim to its pursuer.
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