82 FOOD — women's burdens. 



tliese libels on the name of women to forget the 

 allegiance due to their lords. 



In the summer these people sleep in the open air, 

 making, towards sundown, a fire in the bush, and 

 sleeping with their feet to the fire. In winter they 

 build rude huts of twigs and reeds, about four feet 

 high, and large enough for two or three individuals, 

 and here they, having in their hunting season col- 

 lected provisions enough to subsist on, huddle to- 

 gether and sleep away the rainy season, which usually 

 lasts about five months. Their food comprises almost 

 everj'thing that is endowed with life — kangaroos, 

 snakes, iguanas, and grubs being their dainties ; and 

 if in the neighborhood where a bullock is killed, they 

 greedily flock to the spot, secure the entrails, and 

 devour them without cleansing. They are also ver}'' 

 fond of the flesh of the whale ; and if by accident one 

 comes ashore on the coast, or they take one at either 

 of the fisheries in the bay, they resort to the spot in 

 great numbers and devour the meat, fresh or putrid, 

 \\ithout cooking. The women back all the burdens, 

 beside carrying the children ; the child, perfectly 

 naked, sits astride on the mother's shoulder, with the 

 liands firmly clasped in Jier hair, and in this manner 

 they travel miles with them. Some of the children 

 carried in this way are of so light a complexion, as 

 to excite strong suspicion of amalgamation with some 

 of the whites in the neighborhood. The women, 

 beside the child, carry a bag, into which all the sur- 

 plus provision is stored. Impelled by curiosity, I 

 one day bargained for a sight into one of these 

 mysterious receptacles, and for a plug of tobacco had 

 revealed to my sight half a dozen grubs, several 



