53 



Rivers have frequently to be crossed by swimming, not- 

 withstanding the numerous crocodiles that abound. Any per- 

 sonal belongings, that are not to be wetted, are wrapped in 

 paper-bark, and the parcel held high and dry in the left 

 hand, while the right arm propels. When long stretches of 

 water have to be crossed, a log of wood is pushed along in 

 front of the swimmer, and on it the belongings are carried. 



With conditions so favourable, it is surprising that these 

 coastal tribes have not developed greater power of naviga- 

 tion* and become capable of fashioning more seaworthy crafts 

 than w^ere observed ; and, indeed, the tribes that have come 

 into contact wath Europeans and Asiatics have proved them- 

 selves to be well adapted for the art. But it is very doubtful 

 w^hether the well-shaped dug-out canoes of the Larrekiyas 

 near Port Darwdn and those of the Woffaits beyond Point 

 Charles are of native origin. Probably their manufacture is 

 a product of the contact with Malays or some other race. 



Macgillivray, in 1852, wrotef that "formerly bark canoes 

 were in general use, but they are now^ completely superseded 

 by others, hollow^ed out of the trunk of a tree, which they 

 procure ready-made from the Malays, in exchange for tor- 

 toise-shell and in return for assistance in collecting trepang." 



Both FlindersJ and King§ have described bark canoes 

 from the north coast of Australia. 



Stokes relates ll ho w^ Captain Wickham, when he discov- 

 ered Bynoe Harbour, found, opposite the small projection of 

 land he subsequently called Raft Point, "'a raft carrying two 

 women and several children, which was being towed bv four 

 or five men swimm.ing alongside and supporting themselves 

 by means of a log of wood across their chests." By buoying 

 their body with the same means, several natives attempted to 

 swim out, against a strong tide, to our lugger, the "Venture," 

 when at anchor in Treachery Bay. The same has been re- 

 corded by His Excellency the Governor, Sir George R. Le 

 Hunte,!! from Treachery Bay, also. His Excellency points out 



* Professor Klaatsch has recorded the entire absence of the 

 knoAvledge of navigation among the north-western tribes of West- 

 ern Australia: Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie. 1906, p. 794. 



t Narrative of a Voyage of H.]\r.S. ''RattJesiiake." 18o2, 

 vol. i., pp. 146 and 147. 



t Voyage to Terra Anstralis, 1814, vol. ii., p. 198. 



§ Survev of the Intertronical Coa^^ts of An-;tralia. 1827, vol. 

 i., p. 90. 



IT Discoveries in Australia, vol. ii., p. 15. 



fl Rep. Visit to Northern Territory: Par!. Paper, No. 49, 

 Adelaide. 1905, p. 4. See also P. P. King: Survey of the Inter- 

 tropical Coasts of Australia, 1837, vol. i., p. 38. 



