Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 29]
it about untill he got tired & then pulled him
in, Mullet were speared, but how they caught "Bas-
-fish and Perch before the Whites came I don't know
They were thrown onto the fire as caught - not cleaned
in any way, and I must say fish cooked in that way
are very nice, the insides come out in a ball, and skin
peels off clean, I have often cooked them in this
way when camping on the salt water = They had
an abundance of fish on the coast and in the River
where it was salt = plenty of oysters, Pippies, Cockels, The
Crayfish, Lobsters as they call them the women got by
diving, about the rocks at the Headlands + taking
them by the horns = they are harmless things having no
nippers = The small Lobsters that we have on
the Upper Manning they used to get by pulling a
piece of grass, or a twig, down their hole and so coaxing
them up to the top = I don't know how they managed
with crabs. All the old women had the first joint
of the little finger of the right hand taken off &
some of the middle aged the same, but none of the
young Gins had it taken off = It was said to
be done so as not to interfere with them throwing
out the fishing lines, but many Gins said it was
only done to show they "were game" They removed it
by binding it round at the joint with a strong peice
of cobweb it must have been very painfull as
(25)