10 



AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 



CHAPTER VI. 



HABITATIONS. 



Habitations — fvuui'ns — are of various kinds, and are constructed to suit the 

 seasons. The principal one is the permanent family dwelling, which is made of 

 strono- limbs of trees stuck up in dome-shape, high enough to allow a tall man to 

 stand upright underneath them. Small limbs fill up the intermediate spaces, 

 and these are covered with sheets of bark, thatch, sods, and earth till the roof 

 and sides are proof against wind and rain. The doorway is low, and generally 

 faces the morning sun or a sheltering rock. The family wuurn is sufficiently 

 large to accommodate a dozen or more persons ; and when the family is grown up 

 the wuurn is partitioned off into apartments, each facing the fire in the centre, 

 One of these is appropriated to the parents and children, one to the young 

 unmamed women and widows, and one to the bachelors and widowers. While 

 travelling or occupying temporary habitations, each of these parties must erect 

 separate wnurns. When several families live together, each builds its wuurn 

 facing one central fire. This fire is not much used for cooking, which is generally 

 done outside. Thus in what appears to be one dwelling, fifty or more persons can 

 be accommodated, when, to use the words of the aborigines, they are ' like bees in 

 a hive.' 



These comfortable and healthy habitations are occupied by the owners 

 of the land in the neighbourhood, and are situated on dry spots on the bank of a 

 lake, stream, or healthy swamp, but never near a malarious morass, nor under 

 large trees, which might fall or be struck down by lightning. When it is 

 necessai-y to abandon them for a season in search of variety of food, or for 

 visiting neighbouring families and tribes, the doorway is closed with .sheets of 

 bark or bushes, and, for the information of visitors, a crooked stick is placed 

 above it pointing in the direction which the family intends to go. They then 

 depart, with the remark, ' Muurtee bunna meen,' — ' close the door and pull away.' 



Temporary habitations are also dome-shaped, and are made of limbs, bark of 

 gum trees, and grass, scarcely rain-proof, and are smaller, opener, and more carelessly 

 erected than the permanent residences. They are only used in summer or for 



