elicit from, their inherent stolidity.
This small-pox infliction seems to be the only occasion (of which they have any knowledge) upon which great numbers died together, from one cause. It is therefore not to be wondered at if the survivors do look back upon the scourge with feelings of profound dread.
The natives attributed this pestilence to the malign and magical machinations of tribes with whom they were not on terms of amity; that, however, is only a matter of course, since they ascribe all the ills with which Nature smites them to the same source.
Their food consists of fish principally, and of which for about eight months in the year they have abundance; so large, indeed, is their supply during those months, they cannot nearly consume it, consequently quite a moiety is allowed to go to waste.[4]
To supplement the fish, they have kangaroo, emu, opossum, and wallaby, and besides these nearly every kind of aquatic bird is found in the greatest profusion on the lakes and lagoons. The latter they capture in immense numbers by the aid of nets, manufactured for that purpose only, and during the breeding season they get eggs by the thousand. The canoes arriving at the camps at that time are literally laden down to the water's edge with eggs only; they are heaped up at both ends until there is barely room for the native to stand and paddle. It is of but small moment to them whether the eggs have birds in them or not; they are consumed with a relish all the same, be they fresh or stale.
A species of flag, having a farinaceous root, called by the natives kumpung, grows in abundance by the margin of all the great rivers and lakes; it makes a very palatable and nutritious food, of which the natives are justly fond. It can be procured in abundance, but as it requires considerable labour to dig, much less of it is procured than its manifold merits warrant. The flower stem of this flag is also eaten when young; a foot or eighteen inches long is the best size. It is very insipid to European palates, and we fancy it contains but a small modicum indeed of nutritious matter; however, the natives are extremely partial to it, and therefore consume it in vast quantities. In this green stage it is termed by the aborigines ioonty. The common, small flowered yellow water-lily, which so plentifully fringes most of the colonial lakes and lagoons, is another source from whence they derive a desirable addition to their diet. The roots of this plant are formed of many tubers, of about an inch and a half long by half an inch in diameter. The root of one plant will frequently yield as many tubers as a half-pint measure will contain. They are baked before being eaten, and are of a sweet mawkish taste, very gluey in appearance, not unlike what is termed a waxey potato. They are called lahoor by the natives.
The sow thistle, dandelion yam, and a trefoil which grows on country which at times is inundated during their respective seasons are consumed in vast quantity. To see the lyoores[5] approaching the camp in the evenings, with each a great bundle of these green forage plants on her head, a stranger to their customs would imagine that they were providing the nightly fodder for a dairy of cows. They eat these herbs in a raw state by way of salad; the ioonty is also eaten uncooked.
Besides these they eat the larvae of several kinds of ants, some of which are tree-inhabiting insects, others are mound-raising ground ants. An immense grub also they consume in large quantities; it is two or three inches in length, and is found deep in the wood of the gum-tree. The natives are very expert in finding the trees in which these grubs are; in fact, they never err; yet to a casual observer, or even one with some acuteness, there is not the slightest difference in the appearance of a tree containing numberless grubs and one without any. These grubs are eaten with great relish, either cooked or raw.
During winter they are not in the least choice as to their food; anything having life, no matter how repulsive to European notions it may be, is most acceptable. At that time frogs are deemed good, snakes[6] most toothsome, and the abominable fetid wild dog is esteemed a luxury of the highest order.
1 ↑ Womera: Throwing stick. This instrument is used for propelling the lighter spears. It is also invariably employed by aboriginal orators whilst speaking, to give effect to their eloquence.
2 ↑ Lyoore: Woman.
3 ↑ Coolamen: Water vessel.
4 ↑ This is only applicable to the aborigines who inhabit the Northern frontier of the colony. With the exception of the too bountiful supply of fish, however, the food of the natives all over the colony is pretty much of the same character.
5 ↑ Lyoore: Woman.
6 ↑ It may seem an anachronism to speak of snakes as an article of food in the winter time, but it is not so, as the aborigine with his savage cunning knows when and where to catch the reptile napping during the season of hybernation.
CHAPTER III.
OF THE MARRIAGE RELATIONS AND POLYGAMY; LACK OF CHASTITY AND ITS CAUSES; OF WIDOWS AND THEIR DISPOSAL; CHILDREN AND THEIR TRAINING; OF THE RED OCHRE, WITH WHICH THEY PAINT THEMSELVES, AND HOW OBTAINED; THE WATER-YIELDING ROOT, WHEN AND HOW UTILISED; OF DRESS AND ORNAMENT; PRACTICES ON ATTAINING THE AGE OF PUBERTY, AND PRIOR THERETO; PHYSICAL CAPACITY.
Their marriage relations are of the most primitive and simple character, the noun love being entirely absent from their vocabulary. Nothing in the shape of courting or company-keeping is practised by the prospective bridegroom and bride. The bridegroom and father, or guardian, as the case may be, of the intended bride, come to a proper understanding, and the latter simply desires the mooroongoor[1] to pick up her belongings, and take herself off to the loondthal of her future lord and master. Should she demur, as is not infrequent, the coercion of a waddy is resorted to, and it seldom fails to have the desired effect. There are not any ceremonies connected with this tin; it is merely a matter of mating, still it is binding enough, at least, so far as the woman is concerned. The man at any time, however, can cut the knot, and send the woman back to her people, by whom she is received readily enough, and there is not any trouble or bother about it. There may perhaps be a slight coolness displayed by the father or other guardian of the girl, towards her sometime husband for a few days, but further than this there is no dispute or quarrel on the subject of the slight. The fact that their language is altogether guiltless of a synonym for that noun, may account for their calmness under the circumstances. The girl, of course, is again ready to be disposed of to the first eligible aspirant who may offer, even although her first matrimonial venture had resulted in the production of an infant. Her new lord has to take the encumbrance, which he does, and feels proud, too, of what will in the future be deemed his putative paternity. Polygamy is allowed to any extent, and the rule is generally taken advantage of by those who chance to be rich in sisters, or female wards, to give in exchange for wives. No man can get a wife unless he be the possessor of a sister or ward, whom he can give in exchange. Fathers of grown-up sons frequently exchange their daughters for wives to themselves, even although they had two or three before, instead of allowing their sons to do so. Cases of this kind are very hard indeed, but, being aboriginal law, they cannot be controverted, nor will the elders of a tribe permit the young men to go off to other tribes to steal wives for themselves, as such measures would be the certain means of entailing endless feuds, and much bloodshed in the attempts that would surely be made with the view of recapturing the abducted women. Young men, therefore, not having any female relatives under their control must necessarily live all their lives in single blessedness, unless they choose to take up with withered old hags whom nobody owns, merely to have their fires cared for, their water-vessels
