produce, in tlie aof-re-atn, n source of amusement 



, and 



instruction 



for the next and f 



Discussion. 







Mr. J. F. AIan: 



^-Said that what he had just h 



card 1 



read agreed 



very well with ^vh 



lat he had observed of the custc 





id manners 



of the aboriginals 



of Australia. He would like 



to po 





of the reasons wh 



y th(> })]aeks objected to eat tl 



,e flesh of snakes 



which they had lu 



)t themselves killed, or which h; 



id be< 



Ml depri^■ed 



of life by the whit 



es. Jt was well-known amon< 



r bus 



hmen that 



when a snake whs 



; driven into a corner, and it 





no way of 



'-soaping from its 



captors, it would turn round 



anrl 



bite itself. 



This fact was also 



known among the blacks, and tl 



ley w 



ould refuse 



to eat any portion 



of a snnke that had mot death 







when thoy killed 



a snake they knew whetlior it 



. had 



previously 



bitten itself or no 



t, but wlien the reptile had " 



l)een 



killed by a 



white man they w 



e.-e iiiclined to believe that it 





•ontributod 



to its death bv ha 



viiig inserted its fangs into its o 



wn body ere life 



became extinct. Hence the establish. uent or ori-in 



ofthc 



'wS^er" 



Ho had however k 



nown instances wheii this pre 



judic* 





coTue, but the l)lacks iirst assured themselves thai 



; the 



re^;^.".^ 



been incapacitated from inHicting injury to itself, through its 



raptor ..cvering t 



lie head from tiie body. Wit 



h reg 



ard to tJie 



habit of science a 



inong tlu^ aboriginals of produ. 



cing 



fire by the 



agency of a couplt 



! of pieces of wood, a deal of ■ 





>versy had 



been raised but nc 



> satisfactory solution of the na 





irt had yet 



been arrived at. 



In producing fire two pieces 



of ti 



mber were 



always used. One of tliese pie(;es, [iaviu<r a snial 



1 hok 



, in it, was 



laid down horizoi 



daily while the point of the secoiu 



I piece was 



inserted in the sn, 



all opening in the otiier piece. 



The 



t^vo sticks 



were thus fixed at 



right angles, and the natives ta 





:],e vertical 



piece between th< 



^ palm., of theii- hanrls wcmld 



u-ork 



it rapidly 





■vanls, thus cauMng a certain ai 



iiount 



off.iotion 



m was that wlien a n 

 1 betake himself to 1 

 lach downwards, and : 



