38 THE ABORIGINES OF THE LOWER MURRAY, LOWER 
wood is then ignited, and by the time it is all burned the clay 
nodules have become baked until they are exactly similar to 
stick, merely calling them kulkie (wood). 
The deft manipulation of these tongs is an accomplishment 
enjoyed by old and young alike ; their dexterity therein seems 
quite an aboriginal gift, as few white men ever attain to any 
degree of proficiency in their use. 
the opossums are beautifully cooked, .as perfectly so indeed as 
though the operation had been performed in the most perfect 
kitchen range extant, 
When the cooking has been completed, the covering is scraped 
off, and this debris, consisting of calcined clay, ashes, and burnt 
earth, becomes the nucleus of a blackfellow’s oven, such as are to 
be seen at the present day. This process being repeated at short 
intervals, over a series of years, perhaps indeed for centuries, 
results in the mounds which are in reality blacks’ ovens. 
As long as the camp remains in the same osition the origi 
hole is used for selciag re 
gradually but surely increase; bones too of the animals they use 
as food, charcoal, &c., tend materially to hasten this grow 
