Australian Life 



remarkable degree of skill. The boomerang has 

 often been described, and examples of the 

 woomera, or throwing stick, may be seen in most 

 museums. It is a short, stout stick, notched at 

 one end to receive the butt of an exceedingly 

 long and light spear. With a woomera, the 

 adept can throw these light spears with amazing 

 force and accuracy, and although the spear-tips 

 are made of hard wood only, these missiles 

 served to kill kangaroos and emus, and after- 

 wards sheep and cattle. 



In a very interesting paper on aboriginal foods, 

 Dr. Roth, of North Queensland, has enumerated 

 more than two hundred varieties of fruits and 

 vegetables which are eaten. When he can get 

 them, the black shows no aversion to insects and 

 reptiles of all kinds. Snakes are regarded as a 

 delicacy, and the hills of some species of ants are 

 plundered, eggs, larvae, and mature insects being 

 kneaded into a kind of paste, and eaten with 

 relish. Grubs of all kinds, and especially the 

 large, white grubs found under the bark of the 

 wattle tree, are looked upon with extreme favour, 

 and are sometimes roasted, and sometimes eaten 

 raw. Earth-eating is also practised by some of 

 the Queensland blacks, to satisfy a craving 

 created by a disease common among them, and 

 not unknown among the whites of the same 

 locality. 



In fishing and hunting, the black- fellow is at 

 his best, and shows himself possessed of great 



