682 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the borders of the sea or the rivers, where they are sure of enough 

 food. The tribes of the interior, where water is extremely scarce, 

 are miserable, repulsive, and feeble, their encampments are more prim- 

 itive, their arms are less well cared for, their dialect is ruder, than 

 amons: the inhabitants of the coast. 



It has been represented that these natives have not the virtue of 

 providence ; but they know how to make provision for a bad season. 

 Grey affirms that they save the nuts of the zamia, and Coxen describes 

 the methods which the natives of the northeast employ for preserving 

 oily seeds, gums, and other kinds of food. Whenever a whale or a 

 large fish is stranded on the shore, fires are kindled, and all the fami- 

 lies around assemble to get a share of the windfall. 



Fig. 3. 







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4 ^^ ^^ 



mmwfyL 



r ^::-^:l3 mm 



Families settling down choose a situation near a forest where they 

 can get the wood they need for their cabins, which are sometimes 

 made of limbs covered with earth, sometimes of the bark of a tree 

 called the stringy-bark. This bark, according to Baron de Bougain- 

 ville, is very thick and incombustible ; it serves both for the Avails of 

 the cabins and their roofs, and, as it can be taken off in large slabs, 

 only a few hours are needed to make with it a habitation which gives 

 a perfect shelter. When a savage has found a tree suitable for his 

 purpose, he, with his stone hatchet {kal haling -car ek., Fig. 1), cuts a 



