DWELLINGS IN SKELETONS OP WHALES. 233 



the aboriginal people who inhabited them are disap- 

 pearing like snow in midsummer. Not many years 

 ago, however, they were sufficiently numerous to 

 attract the attention of travelers in that wonderful 

 country. 



The Australians, who are without any doubt the 

 most primitive of people, are also the most omnivorous. 

 They, like our Digger Indians, will eat anything that 

 can be chewed and swallowed, and some things that 

 can not, as, for instance, the roots of bulrushes, which 

 are of so fibrous a nature that it would be as easy to 

 swallow a skein of yarn ; and certain shellfish which, 

 though they may perhaps be swallowed, are no more 

 to be chewed than so much sole leather. 



The native Australian relishes fried tadpoles and 

 roasted caterpillars, and fairly luxuriates on fricasseed 

 snakes and lizards. The greatest possible treat, how- 

 ever, is whale's flesh. A dead one is now and then 

 washed ashore, and as its " ancient and fishlike smell " 

 penetrates throughout the country for miles around, 

 the natives follow their noses down to the shore where 

 it is stranded and gather about it with great rejoicing. 



Enormous as is the supply, the demand is so great 

 that in a comparatively short time nothing but the 

 skeleton remains. This forms the framework of a 

 house, the ribs and backbone constituting the arched 

 roof, which is covered with leaves, grass, and matting 

 to render it impervious to wind and rain. Like mice 

 in a cheese, the Australians eat out the inside and then 

 make their home in the shell of their food supply. 



On another part of the Australian coast the dwell- 

 17 



