48 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC. 



there, he attracted his prey by means of a tuft of cockatoo fea- 

 thers stuck on to the top of his spear ; this special weapon being 

 of a comparatively heavy type, quite 12 feet long, and a portion 

 of it quite as thick as an ordinary broomstick. In open country 

 the native would stealthily sneak up to the unsuspecting bird 

 under cover of some bushes held in front of him. Emus were 

 never trapped in pitfalls or nets. Cockatoos, parrots, and other 

 winged creatures, especially those flying in flocks, were often 

 brought down with sticks or boomerangs ; the younger men 

 especially would employ the latter weapons, as they never set 

 much store upon the time and labour expended in manufactur- 

 ing new ones when the old ones were broken. Crayfish were 

 caught with the hands. Grubs were obtained from out of grass- 

 trees and black wattles ; the natives could apparently tell from 

 the general aspect of the tree, from the various progressive signs 

 of decay, whether the timber was much infested with them or 

 not. Many kinds of roots and yams were eaten ; among the 

 latter, the wor-rain, showing thick yellow blossoms, was very 

 common, growing down to a depth of quite 3 feet, and running 

 from the thickness of the finger to that of the wrist. An island 

 (? Leschenhault Island) in Shark's Bay, used literally to be 

 covered with it. All meats, and the majority of the vegetables, 

 were eaten roasted, some of the latter being prepared with great 

 care, the bulrush roots in particular, a very nourishing dietary, 

 being most methodically slowly cooked in the ashes. So far as 

 meals were concerned, the chief one was principally in the even- 

 ing, what was left over being partaken of in the morning. The 

 natives might pick up during the day anything they could get 

 as they passed along. A man would always share with his 

 neighbour. In the family circle the men, women, and children 

 dined together, but the younger single males at a certain age 

 (puberty and onwards) always had a fire to themselves. When 

 a stranger came to camp, he sat down outside at a distance of 

 some seventy or eighty yards away, and did not come up to the 

 fires until invited, when he had food given him ; he remained 

 comparatively silent except when specially addressed. 



Though cannibalism was not actually witnessed, it had 

 been heard of in the neighbourhood. Furthermore, when the 

 human entrails, on being thrown into the fire, began to curl up, 

 if the ends pointed in the direction of any particular individual 

 around, this circumstance boded him ill-luck in the future. 



