20 PETTICOATS AND FISHING GEAK. 



coat of fine shreds of pandanus leaf, the ends 

 worked into a waistband, is sometimes put on, 

 especially by the young" g^irls, and when about to 

 engage in dancing. This petticoat, varying only 

 in the materials from which it is made, is in general 

 use among the females of all the Torres Strait 

 tribes except the Kowrarega, and much labour is 

 often expended upon its construction. The large 

 mats used as sails, also for sleeping under in wet 

 weather, are made by the women from the fallen 

 leaves of the pandanus, — the common basket from 

 the rush-like leaves of Xerotes Banksii ? — and the 

 water basket from the sheath of the leaf of the 

 Seaforthia palm. 



The food of these blacks varies with the season of 

 the year, and the supply is irregular and often 

 precarious. Shell fish and fish are alone obtainable 

 all the year round, ^collecting the former is exclu- 

 sively a female occupation, but fishing is chiefly 

 practised by the men. Fish are either killed with 

 a plain pointed spear, often merely a stick sharpened 

 at the end, or are taken in deep water with the hook 

 and line. Their hooks are made of a strip of 

 tortoise-shell so much curved as to form three- 

 fourths of a circle, but from their shape and the 

 absence of a barb they cannot be so effective as 

 those of European make : indeed these last were at 

 Cape York preferred by the natives themselves. 

 The Hne is neatly made from the tough fibres of the 

 rattan^ which are first scraped to the requisite 



