204 A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND 



Sailing from Thursday Island I took a North- West 

 course and encountered a sandbank called Tara Cay, 

 which was not marked on my chart, but which I 

 found later is marked on up-to-date charts. The 

 place I found to be one great nest for turtles. Their 

 nests were strewn all around in the sand, some of 

 them old ones, some of them recent and containing 

 fresh eggs. My cook boy proved very clever at dis- 

 tinguishing the recent ones. The usual method of 

 exploring was to take a long sharp stick and poke 

 it into the ground where it seemed to be disturbed. 

 If you struck eggs your stick showed the mark of 

 them; and you had also a rough indication as to 

 whether the eggs were fresh or not. My native cook 

 seemed to be able to know by instinct where there was 

 a nest with fresh eggs. 



The hunting skill of savage races enabling them 

 to obtain food with the help of very primitive weapons 

 strikes the civilised observer as being little short 

 of the miraculous. The Australian aboriginal is 

 supposed to be a very low type of savage. But he 

 has almost superhuman intelligence when he is faced 

 with the problem of the chase. His hunting is not a 

 mere matter of endurance, speed or accuracy of 

 aim with his poor weapons; it is intelligent obser- 

 vation brought to a fine art. The blackfellow knows 

 the track, cry and habits of every animal, and takes 

 advantage of its peculiarity or characteristic to secure 

 its downfall. This knowledge of animals is linked to 



