1 322 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



It has already been stated that an Australian community is divided into hordes, 

 each of which has certain definite hunting-grounds, hut it must not be supposed that all the 

 mcml UTS of a horde remain together in their every-day life. The horde splits up into 

 small parties, which go out in various directions, wandering hither and thither over the 

 common hunting-grounds, and moving their encampments as convenience may dictate. The 

 huts are roughly constructed of sheets of bark, and are open at one side, before which a 

 small fire is kept burning. But these temporary dwellings are not the real Australian huts 

 of the days before the white men came into the land. These were built of bent sticks, 

 neatly thatched with grass tussocks by the women, and were comparatively comfortable and 

 weather-proof structures. The introduction of the iron tomahawk, which supplanted the 

 stone hatchet, and made it easy to strip the bark from the forest trees, has led to the 

 abandonment of the old huts, and affords a curious instance of deterioration instead of 

 improvement, caused by the introduction of a superior implement. In a large part of 

 Central Australia no bark is used, small beehive-shaped huts being constructed of sticks 

 and grass. While the men are away in pursuit of game, the women are full)' occupied 

 in gathering edible roots, seeds and fruits, or in weaving bags, net-making, etc. They 

 also catch fish with the hand-nets. Spearing fish, however, is one of the duties peculiarly 

 the work of the men. 



The natives eat almost everything they catch that has animal life, from kangaroos 

 down to snakes, frogs, grubmants and their eggs, and even the game which is found 

 in those well-stocked preserves, the hair of the blackfellow's head. One of the most 

 widely spread food-plants is the Dura (Typ/ia angustifolia), the rhizomas of which are 

 collected by the women and baked in the ashes, as also the heart of the tree-fern 

 (Jlicksonia Antarctica), the wild yam (Dioscorea transversa), and the tap-root of the 

 Kurrajong (Brachychiton popnlncuni). In Central Australia the chief vegetable food is 

 the I\>rtnlacca oloracca. The plant is eaten raw, the root is roasted, and the oily 

 seeds are ground into a coarse meal between two stones, and either made into a kind 

 of porridge, or into cakes, which are baked in the hot ashes, like the white man's 

 " damper." The Nardoo, properly Ngardu (Marsilea Drummondn), on which Burke and 

 \\ ills of the Victorian Exploring Expedition starved to death, is extensively used in 

 default of better food. The wild rice (Oriza sativa) is gathered by the women in the 

 districts where it is found, as also are certain kinds of grass-seeds, especially the 

 Sporobolus actinocladns. Among the food-plants must be mentioned the Bunya-Bunya 

 pine (Araucaria Bidwelti) though it is found only in one part of the Moreton Bay 

 District, and yields a plentiful crop of its cones once only in three years. The seeds 

 contained in its cones are highly esteemed by the aborigines, who come in great numbers, 

 from distances of two or three hundred miles, every third year to feast upon them. A 

 complete list of all the food-plants would fill an entire volume, and it must suffice to 

 say that the natives consume everything edible within their reach, whether animal or 

 vegetable. The Pitchcri (TJubosisia Ilopwoodii), though it cannot strictly speaking be 

 called food, is found only in a district which may be roughly defined as west of Eyre's 

 Creek, north of Lake Eyre, and east of the transcontinental telegraph line ; it is carried 

 in a dried state for several hundred miles from its habitat, and exchanged as an article 

 of barter with other tribes that have not the plant. The natives are extravagantly fond 



