To ascertain the proportion of male to female children I drew up another

list of 222 births, and out of these there were 93 females and 129 males,
or about 1 female to every 1.3 males.

I have known four instances of native women having twins, but I have
never heard of a greater number of children at one birth. Should a child
be born with any natural deformity it is frequently killed by its parents
soon afterwards. In the only instances of this kind which have come
within my own knowledge the child has been drowned.

LUNATICS AND IDIOTS.

Idiots are rarely found amongst the natives; in two cases I however
observed persons of very deficient intellect. Mad people are unknown, and
this very naturally, for very few freaks of madness could be committed by
a lunatic ere he would fall a sacrifice to the violence and indignation
of his fellows. Persons of very delicate and feeble constitutions are
also rare, as those who survive the hardships to which they are exposed
in their childhood must possess an iron frame. The deaths amongst the
children, particularly during early infancy, are as far as I can judge
much more numerous in proportion to the number of births than they are in
civilized nations.

INFLUENCE OF POLYGAMY ON SOCIAL HABITS.

The social habits of the natives of Australia are necessarily modified by
the extent to which polygamy is permitted and practised amongst them. The
very unequal distribution of the female sex, which arises from this
cause, has rendered prevalent the custom of stealing wives; and as women
are of great value, not only on account of the personal attachment which
they might be supposed to excite, but from the fact of all laborious
tasks being performed, and a great portion of the food of the family
being also collected by them, every precaution is taken to prevent them
from forming any acquaintances which would be likely to terminate in
their abduction.

A stern and vigilant jealousy is commonly felt by every married man; he
cannot, from the roving nature of their mode of life, surround his wives
with the walls of a seraglio, but custom and etiquette have drawn about
them barriers nearly as impassable. When a certain number of families are
collected together they encamp at a common spot; and each family has a
separate hut, or perhaps two. At these huts sleep the father of the
family, his wives, the female children who have not yet joined their
husbands, and very young boys; occasionally female relatives, who from
some temporary cause have no male protector with them, also sleep at this
fire; but the young men and boys of ten years old and upwards are obliged
to sleep in their own portion of the encampment, where they themselves,
or more generally, some of their mothers, build for them two or three
huts, in which those related within certain degrees of consanguinity
sleep together.

SOCIAL CUSTOMS.

When strangers are with a party upon a visit, if attended by their wives,
they sleep in their own huts, which are placed among those of the married
people; but if their wives are not with them, or if they are unmarried,
they sleep at the fire of the young men.

MODE OF CONVERSATIONAL INTERCOURSE. MODE OF RECITING EVENTS.

Under no circumstances is a strange native allowed to approach the fire
of a married man; in the daytime they hunt or occupy themselves with the
men, and at night they either sit at their own fire, or that of the young
men. Their huts being placed at a little distance from one another, such
an arrangement would appear to put an end to anything like social
intercourse or conversation; but they have invented a means of overcoming
this difficulty by making a species of chant, or recitative, their
customary mode of address to each other. In an encampment at night the
young men recount to one another their love adventures and stories; and
the old men quarrel with their wives or play with their children;
suddenly a deep wild chant rises on the ear, in which some newly-arrived
native relates the incidents of his journey, or an old man calls to their
remembrance scenes of other days, or reminds them that some death remains
unavenged: this is done in a loud recitative, and the instant it is
commenced every other sound is hushed. A native, while thus chanting, is
rarely or never interrupted, and when he has concluded another replies in
the same tone until the conversation, still conducted in this manner,
becomes general.

CONSEQUENCES OF JEALOUSY.

In the meantime individuals both male and female move about from fire to
fire, paying visits, and whispering scandal to one another; but these
visits are so arranged that none can approach a fire to which, by the
established usages of society, they have not a right to go; the younger
females however, who are much addicted to intrigue, find at times
opportunity to exchange a word or a glance with some favoured lover, but
woe to her if her watchful husband should detect her in the act. A spear
through the calf of the leg is the least punishment that awaits her; and
if her husband feels himself strong enough, either from personal skill or
from the number of friends he has present, to inflict punishment upon her
paramour, he does it in the most summary manner, throwing as many spears
at his legs as he has an opportunity of doing before others catch hold of
him and prevent his committing farther acts of violence. A good deal of
tact is required under these circumstances to ascertain whether a spear
can safely be thrown at a man or not; but I have remarked as a general
rule that a native, if irritated by another, invariably throws a spear at
him if he has a friend or brother near the offender at the time; the
chances then being that this friend or brother will catch hold of the man
attacked before he can throw a spear in return. As for the poor female no
one takes her part whether she is innocent or guilty; the established and
very equitable law with regard to women being, "If I beat your mother,
then you beat mine: if I beat your wife, then you beat mine," etc. etc.
So that by judiciously conducting arrangements a native can spear one
aggressor himself and get the other speared for him without undergoing
any personal trouble or inconvenience, or without in the least suffering
in her good graces.

DANCES.

Should it be the intention of the natives to have a dance the
arrangements are somewhat different. In this case the young men retire
early in the afternoon to some spot suited to their purpose, where they
paint and deck themselves out in the most grotesque manner. After dark
they return to the encampment near which the dance takes place. At these
entertainments the same rules of etiquette are strictly observed: the
females sit in a group apart, generally behind the old men; the
performers are on the side of the fire opposite to them; in one or two
dances the women take a part in the song, but they never dance
themselves, nor are the young men allowed to approach them. It is all
fair for the dancers to do their utmost, by the arrangement of paint and
ornaments, to show off their personal attractions, and they sometimes
avail themselves of this privilege in the most ludicrous manner; but they
are permitted to hold no converse whatever with any but their mothers and
sisters.

CEREMONIES ON MEETING. CUSTOMS IN MEETING AFTER ABSENCE.

The ceremonies they observe at first meeting one another after absence
are remarkable. When a native and his wives enter an encampment of
friends whom they have not for some time seen, they proceed straight to
the hut of some relative or intimate friend without bestowing even a
glance upon any others whom they may pass: having reached the hut the man
at once seats himself at the fire without taking the least notice of
anyone in it, whilst his wives crouch upon the earth at a respectful
distance behind him, keeping their eyes fixed upon the ground; solemn
silence now ensues, all countenances wear an unspeakable gloom and
gravity and all eyes are directed to the earth; in about ten minutes the
nearest blood relation of any individual who has died since the stranger
has visited his friends advances to him with a measured pace, and without
speaking seats himself cross-legged on his thighs, under which he places
his hands, at the same time pressing his breast to the stranger's; thus
seated they mournfully avert their faces from one another and preserve a
perfect silence; no single word or sign of recognition passes between
them, and after they have remained thus seated for several minutes the
native who had come to announce the death rises slowly and retires with
the same gravity with which he had approached; other males of the family
now successively approach the stranger, going through precisely the same
ceremonies, none of them venturing to interchange a single word with him.

This part of the ceremony having been completed, the nearest female
relative of the deceased approaches the stranger and, throwing herself
upon her knees before him, she embraces his knees with her left arm
whilst with the nails of her right hand she scratches her cheek and nose
until the blood drops from them, at the same time raising the most
piteous cries and lamentations. After a few minutes she rises and
approaches his wife and seats herself on the ground in front of her; the
two now encircle one another with their left arms, resting their heads on
each other's shoulders, whilst they scratch their faces with their right
hands and cry and wail in a tone which excites in the minds of all who
hear them sensations of deep grief; indeed I know of no sound (not even
excepting the Irish howl) which so fully expresses the passion of deep
sorrow as this lament of the native women. When their cry is completed
the resident native woman rises from the ground and slowly walks from the
wife of the one who has returned to the camp; the other female relatives
of the deceased then advance in turn, and go through the same form.

The returned absentee is now at liberty to speak, and some of the party
in recitative recount to him all the leading facts that have occurred
since their last meeting; they are however very careful not to mention
the name of the person who is dead, but describe him by his attributes
and family in such a manner as to leave no doubt in the mind of the
hearer; but to name aloud one who is departed would be a gross violation
of their most sacred prejudices, and they carefully abstain from it.

CEREMONIES ON MEETING IN THE BUSH.

If natives meet in the bush the foregoing ceremonies are in part
observed: both parties at their first meeting sit down at a distance from
one another, preserving a profound silence and keeping their eyes fixed
on the ground; after a time one of them commences a chant about himself
and from what great family he has sprung; they then approach one another,
and if there is a death to communicate the men press breast to breast,
and knee to knee, remaining for some time with averted faces, lost in
melancholy thoughts; when they separate the women approach and kneel,
scratching their faces and crying in the way I have above described.
Should no relative have died upon either side the men, after rising up,
approach one another and enter into conversation; whilst the elder
married females, if they like a stranger, embrace him affectionately and
give him a loud-sounding kiss upon each cheek; on several occasions I
have had to submit myself, with as good a grace as I could, to this
salutation.

In these casual meetings of natives it occasionally happens that several
women kneel together, crying and embracing the knees of some old savage,
who stands erect in the midst of the group, with a proud and lordly air,
whilst they cower to the earth around him; sometimes they have children
slung at their backs, and these little things may be seen unconsciously
playing with their mothers' hair whilst this mournful scene is enacting.

PUNCTILIOS OF FORM.

Some old women are scrupulously punctilious about the performance of all
these matters of etiquette, attaching a degree of importance to them
which, in the eyes of civilized man, approaches the ludicrous; but they
look upon them in a very different light. I have seen a number of these
sticklers for form kneeling round a little boy not more than six or seven
years old, lamenting most bitterly, the little fellow meanwhile
preserving in his countenance and bearing all the gravity and dignity
which a man could have exhibited.


CHAPTER 14. FOOD AND HUNTING.

ERRORS REGARDING SCARCITY OF FOOD OF NATIVES.

The mistake very commonly made with regard to the natives of Australia is
to imagine that they have small means of subsistence, or are at times
greatly pressed for want of food: I could produce many almost humorous
instances of the errors which travellers have fallen into upon this
point. They lament in their journals that the unfortunate Aborigines
should be reduced by famine to the miserable necessity of subsisting on
certain sorts of food which they have found near their huts; whereas in
many instances the articles thus quoted by them are those which the
natives most prize, and are really neither deficient in flavour nor
nutritious qualities. I will give one remarkable example of an error of
this kind into which a traveller of great ability has fallen; but this
will only render palpable the ignorance that has prevailed with regard to
the habits and customs of this people when in their wild state, for those
who frequent European towns and the outskirts of population are soon
compelled by the force of circumstances to depart, in a great measure,
from their original habits.

Captain Sturt, to whom I allude, says in his travels (volume 1 page 118):

Among other things we found a number of bark troughs filled with the gum
of the mimosa, and vast quantities of gum made into cakes upon the
ground. From this it would appear that these unfortunate creatures were
reduced to the last extremity, and, being unable to procure any other
nourishment, had been obliged to collect this mucilaginous food.

...

The gum of the mimosa, thus referred to, is a favourite article of food
amongst the natives, and when it is in season they assemble in large
numbers upon plains of the character previously described by Captain
Sturt in order to enjoy this luxury. The profusion in which this gum is
found enables large bodies to meet together, which, from their
subsistence being derived from wild animals and vegetables of spontaneous
growth, they can only do when some particular article is in full season,
or when a whale is thrown ashore. In order more fully to show how little
the habits of this people have been understood I may state with regard to
this very gum, called by the natives kwon-nat, that about the time the
above account was published by Captain Sturt an expedition was sent out
from King George's Sound in Western Australia in order to discover what
was the nature of the article of food so loudly praised by them, and
which they stated was to be found in certain districts in great
profusion; the belief at that time being, from the accounts given of it,
that it could be only a new and valuable species of grain. The exploring
party did not attain their object, and to this day many of the settlers
believe the kwon-nat to be a kind of corn.

FOOD PLENTIFUL. VARIETIES OF IT IN DIFFERENT LATITUDES.

Generally speaking the natives live well; in some districts there may at
particular seasons of the year be a deficiency of food, but if such is
the case these tracts are at those times deserted. It is however utterly
impossible for a traveller or even for a strange native to judge whether
a district affords an abundance of food or the contrary; for in
traversing extensive parts of Australia I have found the sorts of food
vary from latitude to latitude, so that the vegetable productions used by
the Aborigines in one are totally different to those in another; if
therefore a stranger has no one to point out to him the vegetable
productions, the soil beneath his feet may teem with food whilst he
starves. The same rule holds good with regard to animal productions; for
example in the southern parts of the continent the Xanthorrhoea affords
an inexhaustible supply of fragrant grubs, which an epicure would delight
in when once he has so far conquered his prejudices as to taste them;
whilst in proceeding to the northward these trees decline in health and
growth, until about the parallel of Gantheaume Bay they totally
disappear, and even a native finds himself cut off from his ordinary
supplies of insects; the same circumstances taking place with regard to
the roots and other kinds of food at the same time, the traveller
necessarily finds himself reduced to cruel extremities. A native from the
plains, taken into an elevated mountainous district near his own country
for the first time, is equally at fault.

VARIED WITH THE SEASONS.

But in his own district a native is very differently situated; he knows
exactly what it produces, the proper time at which the several articles
are in season, and the readiest means of procuring them. According to
these circumstances he regulates his visits to the different portions of
his hunting ground; and I can only state that I have always found the
greatest abundance in their huts.

CAUSES OF OCCASIONAL WANT.

There are however two periods of the year when they are at times
subjected to the pangs of hunger: these are in the hottest time of summer
and in the height of the rainy season. At the former period the heat
renders them so excessively indolent that until forced by want they will
not move, and at the latter they suffer so severely from the cold and
rain that I have known them remain for two successive days at their huts
without quitting the fire; and even when they do quit it they always
carry a fire-stick with them, which greatly embarrasses their movements.
In all ordinary seasons however they can obtain in two or three hours a
sufficient supply of food for the day, but their usual custom is to roam
indolently from spot to spot, lazily collecting it as they wander along.

LIST OF EDIBLE ARTICLES.

That an accurate idea may be formed of the quantity and kinds of food
which they obtain, I have given below a list of those in use amongst the
aborigines of South-western Australia which I have seen them collect and
eat; and I will, in the order in which they stand on this list, show the
mode of obtaining them, and the way in which they are cooked.

Different articles of food eaten by the natives of Western Australia:

Six sorts of kangaroo.
Twenty-nine sorts of fish.
One kind of whale.
Two species of seal.
Wild dogs.
Three kinds of turtle.
Emus, wild turkeys, and birds of every kind.
Two species of opossum.
Eleven kinds of frogs.
Four kinds of freshwater shellfish.
All saltwater shellfish, except oysters.
Four kinds of grubs.
Eggs of every species of bird or lizard.
Five animals, something smaller in size than rabbits.
Eight sorts of snakes.
Seven sorts of iguana.
Nine species of mice and small rats.
Twenty-nine sorts of roots.
Seven kinds of fungus.
Four sorts of gum.
Two sorts of manna.
Two species of by-yu, or the nut of the Zamia palm.
Two species of mesembryanthemum.
Two kinds of nut.
Four sorts of fruit.
The flower of several species of Banksia.
One kind of earth, which they pound and mix with the root of the mene.
The seeds of several species of leguminous plants.

It will be necessary however before commencing this sketch to give an
outline of the weapons and implements with which the different animals
are caught and killed, and the vegetable productions procured.

EQUIPMENT FOR A HUNT. IMPLEMENTS FOR DESTROYING ANIMALS.

The natives nearly always carry the whole of their worldly property about
with them, and the Australian hunter is thus equipped: round his middle
is wound, in many folds, a cord spun from the fur of the opossum, which
forms a warm, soft and elastic belt of an inch in thickness, in which are
stuck his hatchet, his kiley or boomerang, and a short heavy stick to
throw at the smaller animals. His hatchet is so ingeniously placed that
the head of it rests exactly on the centre of his back, whilst its thin
short handle descends along the backbone. In his hand he carries his
throwing-stick and several spears, headed in two or three different
manners so that they are equally adapted to war or the chase. A warm
kangaroo skin cloak completes his equipment in the southern portions of
the continent; but I have never seen a native with a cloak anywhere to
the north of 29 degrees south latitude.

DESCRIPTION AND USE OF THE WEAPONS.

These weapons, although apparently so simple, are admirably adapted for
the purposes they are intended to serve. The spear when projected from
the throwing-stick forms as effectual a weapon as the bow and arrow,
whilst at the same time it is much less liable to be injured, and it
possesses over the bow and arrow the advantage of being useful to poke
out kangaroo-rats and opossums from hollow trees, to knock off gum from
high branches, to pull down the cones from the Banksia trees, and for
many other purposes.

The hatchet is used to cut up the larger kinds of game and to make holes
in the trees the owner is about to climb. The kiley is thrown into
flights of wild-fowl and cockatoos, and with the dow-uk, a short heavy
stick, they knock over the smaller kinds of game much in the same manner
that poachers do hares and rabbits in England.

CONTENTS OF THE WOMEN'S BAG OR WALLET.

Thus equipped the father of the family stalks forth, and at a respectful
distance behind him follow the women; a long thick stick, the point of
which has been hardened in the fire, is in each of their hands, a child
or two fixed in their bags or upon their shoulders, and in the deep
recesses of these mysterious bags they carry moreover sundry articles
which constitute the wealth of the Australian savage. These are however
worthy of a particular enumeration, as this will make plain the domestic
economy of one of these barbarian housewives.

The contents of a native woman's bag are: A flat stone to pound roots
with; earth to mix with the pounded roots; quartz, for the purpose of
making spears and knives; stones for hatchets; prepared cakes of gum, to
make and mend weapons and implements; kangaroo sinews to make spears and
to sew with; needles made of the shin-bones of kangaroos, with which they
sew their cloaks, bags, etc.; opossum hair to be spun into waist belts;
shavings of kangaroo skins to polish spears, etc.; the shell of a species
of mussel to cut hair, etc., with; native knives; a native hatchet;
pipe-clay; red ochre, or burnt clay; yellow ochre, a piece of paperbark
to carry water in; waistbands and spare ornaments; pieces of quartz which
the native doctors have extracted from their patients, and thus cured
them from diseases; these they preserve as carefully as Europeans do
relics. Banksia cones (small ones) or pieces of a dry white species of
fungus to kindle fire with rapidly and to convey it from place to place;
grease, if they can procure it from a whale, or from any other source;
the spare weapons of their husbands, or the pieces of wood from which
these are to be manufactured; the roots, etc., which they have collected
during the day. Skins not yet prepared for cloaks are generally carried
between the bag and the back, so as to form a sort of cushion for the bag
to rest on.

In general each woman carries a lighted fire-stick, or brand, under her
cloak and in her hand.

DIFFERENT METHODS OF CATCHING KANGAROOS.

Imagining several parties of this kind, headed by one of the young men,
to be moving through the woods, let us follow them and watch their mode
of procuring and cooking their different varieties of food.

MANNER OF HUNTING A KANGAROO SINGLY.

The moment an Australian savage commences his day's hunting his whole
manner and appearance undergo a wondrous change: his eyes, before heavy
and listless, brighten up, and are never for a moment fixed on one
object; his gait and movements, which were indolent and slow, become
quick and restless yet noiseless; he moves along with a rapid stealthy
pace, his glance roving from side to side in a vigilant uneasy manner,
arising from his eagerness to detect signs of game and his fears of
hidden foes. The earth, the water, the trees, the skies, each are in turn
subjected to a rigid scrutiny, and from the most insignificant
circumstances he deduces omens. His head is held erect and his progress
is uncertain, in a moment his pace is checked, he stands in precisely the
position of motion as if suddenly transfixed, nothing about him stirs but
his eyes, they glance uneasily from side to side whilst the head and
every muscle seem immoveable; but the white eyeballs may be seen in rapid
motion, whilst all his faculties are concentrated, and his whole soul is
absorbed in the senses of sight and hearing. His wives, who are at some
distance behind him, the moment they see him assume this attitude fall to
the ground as if they had been shot; their children cower by them, and
their little faces express an earnestness and anxiousness which is far
beyond their years; at length a suppressed whistle is given by one of the
women, which denotes that she sees a kangaroo near her husband. All is
again silence and quietude; and an unpractised European would ride within
a few yards of the group and not perceive a living thing.

Looking about a hundred yards to the right of the native, you will see a
kangaroo erect upon its hind legs and supported by its tail; it is reared
to its utmost height, so that its head is between five and six feet above
the ground--its short fore-paws hang by its side, its ears are pointed,
it is listening as carefully as the native, and you see a little head
peering out from its pouch to enquire what has alarmed its mother; but
the native moves not, you cannot tell whether it is a human being or the
charred trunk of a burnt tree which is before you, and for several
minutes the whole group preserve their relative position; at length the
kangaroo becomes reassured, drops upon its fore-paws, gives an awkward
leap or two, and goes on feeding, the little inhabitant of its pouch
stretching its head farther out, tasting the grass its mother is eating,
and evidently debating whether or not it is safe to venture out of its
resting place and gamble about amongst the green dewy herbage.

Meantime the native moves not until the kangaroo, having two or three
times resumed the attitude of listening, and having like a monkey
scratched its side with its fore-paw, at length once more abandons itself
in perfect security to its feed, and playfully smells and rubs its little
one. Now the watchful savage, keeping his body unmoved, fixes the spear
first in the throwing-stick, and then raises his arms in the attitude of
throwing, from which they are never again moved until the kangaroo dies
or runs away; his spear being properly secured, he advances slowly and
stealthily towards his prey, no part moving but his legs; whenever the
kangaroo looks round he stands motionless in the position he is in when
it first raises its head, until the animal, again assured of its safety,
gives a skip or two and goes on feeding; again the native advances, and
this scene is repeated many times until the whistling spear penetrates
the devoted animal; then the wood rings with shouts; women and children
all join pell-mell in the chase; the kangaroo, weak from the loss of
blood, and embarrassed by the long spear which catches in the brushwood
as it flies, at length turns on its pursuers, and to secure its rear
places its back against a tree, preparing at the same time to rend open
the breast and entrails of its pursuer by seizing him in its fore-paws
and kicking with its hind legs and claws; but the wily native keeps clear
of so murderous an embrace, and from the distance of a few yards throws
spears into its breast until the exhausted animal falls and is then soon
despatched; when, with the assistance of his wives, he takes its forelegs
over his left, and the hind legs over his right shoulder, and totters
with his burden to some convenient resting place, where they can enjoy
their meal.

HUNTING IN PARTIES IN THE BUSH.

The chase of the kangaroo conducted by a number of natives is a much more
lively and noisy affair, but it is not to my taste nearly so interesting.
When a single native hunts you see the whole energy and perseverance of
which a savage is capable called forth, and his graceful movements,
cautious advance, the air of quietude and repose which pervade his frame
when his prey is alarmed, all involuntarily call forth your admiration
and compel you to murmur to yourself, "how beautiful, how very
beautiful." But where a party hunt there is more bustle and animation in
the scene; and this kind of hunting is called "Yowart-a-kaipoon," or
kangaroo-surrounding. The animals which are to be killed by a party who
proceed for this purpose are either surprised in a thick bushy place,
where they have retired to lie down in the heat of the day, or else in an
open plain; in the former case they are tracked to their retreat, and the
party then encircling it first ascertain that they have not quitted it;
as each native takes up his position he gives a low whistle, and when the
blockade is completed they fire the bushes; the frighted animals now fly
from the flames in the direction of the open plains, but no sooner do
they reach the outskirts of the wood than the bushes are fired in the
direction in which they are running, and they are driven back by loud
calls and terrific cries, which augment their terror, and they run wildly
about; until, becoming maddened by fear, they make a rush through the
midst of their enemies, who allow but few of their victims to escape.

IN THE PLAINS.

When kangaroos are surrounded upon a plain the point generally chosen is
an open bottom surrounded by wood; each native has his position assigned
him by some of the elder ones, and a great deal of art and caution are
sometimes required to gain it; for this end they avail themselves of
every inequality of the ground, of every bush, of every shrub, and as
there are so many witnesses of their skill and cunning they put forth all
their art to approach as near the kangaroos as possible without
disturbing them, and thus the circle narrows in around the unconscious
animals, till at last some one of them becomes alarmed and bounds away,
but ere it has proceeded many yards its flight is arrested by a savage
with fearful yells; terrified it sits down with its frightened comrades
to look for a means of escape, but armed natives brandishing their spears
and raising loud cries come running in upon them from every side; and ere
the animals have recovered the first moments of terror and surprise a
slaughter has already commenced, which seldom terminates before the
greater number of them have fallen.

These great public hunts or battues are conducted under certain rules.
The proprietor of the land must have invited the other natives, and must
be present himself, for should these regulations be violated a very
bloody fight is certain to take place. The first spear which strikes a
kangaroo determines whose property the dead animal is to be; it being no
matter how slight the wound may have been; even if a boy threw the spear
the rule holds good, and if the animal killed is one which by their laws
a boy is not allowed to eat, then his right passes on to his father or
eldest male relation. 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. None but a skilful
huntsman in the pride of youth and strength can perform this feat, and
one who has frequently practised it always enjoys great renown amongst
his fellows.

COOKING A KANGAROO.

Before they commence cooking the kangaroo an incision is made round the
base of the tail to the bone, and another incision skin deep round the
tip. The skin is then pulled away from the other part with all the sinews
of the tail attached to it, and these are drawn carefully out and at once
rolled round the dowuk, so as to keep them stretched: their future use is
either to sew cloaks and bags, or to make spears.

Two modes of cooking the kangaroo are common; the first is to make an
oven by digging a hole in the sand, in which a fire is lighted; when the
sand is well heated and a large heap of ashes is collected the hole is
scraped out and the kangaroo is placed in it, skin and all; it is then
covered over with ashes, and a slow fire is kept up above it; when
sufficiently baked it is taken out and laid upon its back; the first
incision is made directly down from between the forearms to the bottom of
the abdomen, the intestines are then removed, and the whole of the juice
or gravy is left in the body of the animal. This is carefully taken out
and the body is then cut up and eaten.

The other mode is simply to kill the kangaroo and then to broil the
different portions of it on the fire: certain parts are considered great
delicacies, and these the young men are forbidden to eat; such are the
blood, the entrails, and the marrow. The blood is always carefully
collected in one of the intestines so as to form a long sausage and is
afterwards eaten by the most influential man present.

METHODS OF TAKING AND COOKING FISH.

It will be seen from the foregoing list that the smaller sorts of fish
eaten by the natives are very numerous: there are however several kinds
which from superstitious prejudices they will not touch; amongst these
are the Bamba, or stingray. I should here observe that these prejudices
are local, and I have seen them reject at one portion of the continent
articles of food which at a distant part they will eat readily.

Three modes of taking fish are commonly practised: spearing them;
catching them by means of a weir; and taking them in a net. A party of
natives spearing fish in one of their large shallow estuaries is an
extremely picturesque sight; they follow all the tortuous windings of the
fish they are pursuing, as it darts about in the water, with great
rapidity; and, the object of their pursuit being concealed from a distant
spectator, they appear to be running about in the sea and dashing up the
foam for no conceivable cause or reason. Notwithstanding the speed they
are running with and the smallness of the object, in striking they rarely
miss their aim. In deep rivers or in the sea the mode of spearing fish
varies according to the circumstances of the case; sometimes it is done
by diving, sometimes by sitting on a rock or tree and watching them as
they pass underneath; but in all cases astonishment is excited to see the
celerity and accuracy with which the eye and hand act in the nicest
unison.

Weirs are only constructed across places which are left nearly dry at
low-water, or when the floods subside; and the way in which fish are
taken in the net offers nothing remarkable.

METHODS OF COOKING FISH.

If the fish are not cooked by being merely thrown on the fire and broiled
they dress them in a manner worthy of being adopted by the most civilized
nations; this is called "Yudarn dookoon," or "tying-up cooking." A piece
of thick and tender paperbark is selected and torn into an oblong form;
the fish is laid in this, and the bark wrapped round it as paper is
folded round a cutlet; strings formed of grass are then wound tightly
about the bark and fish, which is then slowly baked in heated sand
covered with hot ashes; when it is completed the bark is opened and
serves as a dish: it is of course full of juice and gravy, not a drop of
which has escaped. Several of the smaller sorts of freshwater fish, in
size and taste resembling white-bait, are really delicious when cooked in
this manner; they occasionally also dress pieces of kangaroo and other
meats in the same way.

FEASTING ON A STRANDED WHALE.

A whale is the greatest delicacy that a native can partake of, and,
whilst standing beside the giant frame of one of these monsters of the
deep, he can only be compared to a mouse standing before a huge
plum-cake; in either case the mass of the food compared to that of the
consumer is enormous. It is impossible for civilized man to enter into
the feelings of the savage under these circumstances, for he has never
been similarly situated. He never has had such a quantity of food that he
doats on placed at once before him; hence when a native proprietor of an
estate in Australia finds a whale thrown ashore upon his property his
whole feelings undergo a sudden revulsion. Instead of being churlishly
afraid of the slightest aggression on his property his heart expands with
benevolence, and he longs to see his friends about him; so he falls to
work with his wives and kindles large fires to give notice of the joyful
event.

This duty being performed, he rubs himself all over with the blubber,
then anoints his favourite wives, and thus prepared cuts his way through
the blubber into the flesh or beef, the grain of which is about as firm
as a goose-quill, of this he selects the nicest morsels, and either
broils them on the fire or cooks them as kabobs by cutting them into
small pieces and spitting them on a pointed stick.

By and bye other natives come gaily trooping in from all quarters: by
night they dance and sing, and by day they eat and sleep, and for days
this revelry continues unchecked, until they at last fairly eat their way
into the whale, and you see them climbing in and about the stinking
carcase, choosing tit-bits. In general the natives are very particular
about not eating meat that is fly-blown or tainted, but when a whale is
in question this nicety of appetite vanishes. I attribute this to their
disliking in the first instance to leave the carcase, and then gradually
getting accustomed to its smell; but whatever may be the reason they
remain by the carcase for many days, rubbed from head to foot with
stinking blubber, gorged to repletion with putrid meat, out of temper
from indigestion, and therefore engaged in constant frays, suffering from
a cutaneous disorder by high feeding, and altogether a disgusting
spectacle. There is no sight in the world more revolting than to see a
young and gracefully formed native girl stepping out of the carcase of a
putrid whale. When they at last quit their feast they carry off as much
as they can stagger under, to eat upon the way, and to take as a rarity
to their distant friends.

MODE OF KILLING SEALS AND WILD DOGS.

Killing seals is, from the habits of these animals, necessarily an
exciting species of hunting in the southern and western portions of the
continent. It is only enjoyed by the natives when they can surprise a
seal upon the beach or in the surf, or when they swim off to some of the
small rocky islands which are connected with the main by reefs, and are
at no great distance from it; they are themselves fond of this sport, and
the clambering about the wild rocks of their native shore, at one time
leaping from rock to rock, spearing fish that lie in the quiet pools, in
the next moment dashing into the boisterous surf to spear a large fish,