206 A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND 



The huge beds of cockle-shells, some of them about 

 a mile long and hundreds of yards across, with ovens of 

 flat stones, found among the sandhills near the shore, 

 in parts of Australia, show the enormous numbers of 

 molluscs the aboriginal gathered and cooked. The 

 big inland fishing weirs offer further evidence of his 

 ingenuity as a fisherman. 



And the Australian aboriginal is an expert water- 

 finder. By looking at certain vegetation or noting 

 the fall of the ground, he is able to tell where and at 

 what depth water will be found, and he sinks his water- 

 hole accordingly. He knows where he will find water 

 after a shower or on a dewy morning, which he can 

 collect and store in his water bag. One tribe, which 

 lived where water was at times very scarce, learned 

 to seal up the sutures of skulls, which were then used 

 for water-carrying. It is known to the white travellers 

 in Australia that in any kind of country, however 

 desert and waterless it seems, the natives can lead 

 them to stores of water. There have been some 

 grim incidents because of natives either misunder- 

 standing or wilfully disobeying the orders of white 

 travellers in the desert to lead them to water. 

 Stupidity or disobedience has been met with torture. 

 In one case, which caused a painful sensation when 

 the facts became known, some white travellers, 

 perishing with thirst, flogged two natives to make 

 them disclose the locality of their wells and, that 

 failing, filled the mouths of the blackfellows with 



