172 Manners and Customs of the Australian Natives, 



I have to mention another instrument^ quite different from 

 any of those above^ viz.: — the "Avitarna/' a piece of wood 18 

 inches long, 4< inches broad, \ inch thick, which, tied to a long- 

 string, they swing round above their heads, and thus produce 

 a low rumbling sound at intervals, ceasing and returning with 

 increased power. To the women and children the "witarna'^ 

 is carefully hidden, as its sound indicates that the men are 

 engaged in some of their secret ceremonies, and that they are 

 to keep aloof from them. 



It has been asserted that the natives eat any thing without any 

 distinction whatsoever; this statement, probably, is owing to 

 the fact that they certainly eat many things which to Europeans 

 are disgusting, as, for instance, maggots of various kinds, rotten 

 eggs, the entrails of animals; but, on the other hand, the 

 white people eat many things which to the natives are equally 

 disgusting, such as certain kinds of fish, oysters, shellfish, 

 muscles of all kinds, the common mushroom, the other de- 

 scription of which latter however they are very fond of them- 

 selves. 



The natives divide all their articles of food into two classes 

 — the '^'^paru^^ and '^mai,^^ the former including all animal, 

 and the latter all vegetable articles of food ; of these are the 

 various descriptions of roots — such as the ngamba, ngarruru, 

 and others, all of about the size of a small carrot, and 

 of its shape, of a more or less acrid taste, and which are first 

 roasted in hot ashes, and then peeled for eating. Of the grass- 

 tree, xanthorraea, they eat the lower part of the stem not yet 

 grown above the surface of the ground ; it is by no means 

 tasteless, but certainly cannot contain much nourishment ; 

 besides these they also eat various kinds of fungi. 



Although to Europeans the country offers scarcely any kind 

 of eatable fruit, it yields a pretty good variety of such as 

 affords valuable food to the blacks. The most important and 

 abundant fruit is that of a mesembrianthemum, to which the 

 Europeans have given the somewhat vulgar name of pigfaces, 

 but the natives the more euphonical one of karkalla. Pressing 

 the fruit between their fingers, they drop the luscious juice into 

 the mouth. During the karkalla season, which lasts from 

 January till the end of the summer, the natives lead a compara- 

 tively easy life; they are free from any anxiety of hunger, as the 

 plant grows in all parts of the country, and most abundantly on 

 the sandy hills near the sea. The men generally gather only 

 as much as they want for the moment, but the women collect 

 large quantities for eating after supper. The Port Lincoln 



