370 ON THE ABORIGINES OF THE LOWER MURRAY, 



are singed off, and a large hole is made in the ground, filled 

 with leaves, dry branches, &c., the fire being well supplied with 

 fuel for an hour or so ; the ashes and embers are then cleaned 

 out, the bottom covered with fresh gum-leaves ; the carcase is 

 put upon these, covered over with leaves again, and the 

 whole with earth and lumps of clay (the size of a man's fist) 

 which have previously been heated ; a fire is again lit upon the 

 top, and after another hour the bird is done, tasting as sweet as 

 if prepared by the best professed cook. 



Of Mammalia which are hunted by the native for the sake of 

 their skins or their flesh, the common opossum (Plialangista 

 vulpina), stands first. In the Mallee scrub, where the trees are 

 of stunted growth, these animals are plentiful, and easily 

 secured : whilst upon the river banks, where gum-trees one 

 hundred or two hundred feet in height give them shelter, this 

 is a more laborious task ; still even upon the highest tree 

 poor 'Possum is never secure. I have seen one of these 

 nimble blacks after a rainy day, when his stomach called loud for 

 meat, carefully scan every tree along the river bank, until the 

 trace of 'Possums' nails were found in one of the old " gums ; " 

 tomahawk in hand, he mounted it, the first branch being about 

 sixty feet above ground ; even then, he had to cut through a thick 

 branch, and it was almost dark when he extracted an old 

 opossum, which however, before it could be killed, dropped into 

 the river below ; his wife had been watching him, however, and 

 plunging into the stream, she secured their supper for that night. 



If nothing is to be had in the shape of meat, the last resource 

 is, in summer time at least, to light a few branches and hunt for 

 frogs, which may also be secured, summer or winter, beneath the 

 bark of the flooded gum trees. Native cats, (Dasyurus gtoffroyii) 

 all species of rats and mice, and the smaller wallabies, (Halmaturus,} 

 are also eaten, and some of them obtained almost every day. The 

 large kangaroos (Macropus major and Osphranter rufus) are 

 generally hunted by a number of men with their dogs, the time 

 chosen being after a heavy shower of rain, when the large 

 animals sink deep into the chalky soil of the Mallee scrub. 



After a kangaroo has been killed, the successful hunter secures 

 the kidney fat, which however is very small in quantity, it 



