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[Page 163]
HABITS AND MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE
FOOD
To a European almost every part of the continent of Australia, as seen before the work of civilisation has transformed it, bears an inhospitable aspect. To a sportsman well provided with ammunition, indeed, many a river and lagoon, with its countless swarms of teal and other water-fowl, and it unnumbered fish, offers a perpetual feast. But, compared with other countries, Australia is singularly deficient in fruits, grain, and edible roots.
The problem of sustaining life, which had to be solved by the Australian race, was, therefore, the very opposite of that which was presented to the Polynesian tribes, for whom the islands have brought forth abundantly yams, cocoa-nuts, and many nourishing and delicious fruits. This people had to provide themselves sustenance in a country where many Europeans have perished for want of food and water. And they have managed to subsist, to multiply, and to spread over the whole continent, without any supplies or help from abroad, without any knowledge of the use of tillage, or of the material under their feet awaiting the appliances of civilization to yield abundant wealth. How have they lived?
The staff of life in nearly all parts of Australia is the opossum, which abounds more than any other mammal. The emu and the kangaroo furnish the most valued meat for the men, and to women and children the use of these is allowed only to a limited extent. Iguanas and native bears supply them with substantial meals. Snakes are eaten by them, and they are very careful in the mode of killing them, to prevent the poisoning of the flesh. Grubs, especially a white fat kind, about three inches long and nearly two inches in diameter, are regarded as choice morsels. Fish constitute an important part of the food of those who live near the sea or upon the rivers. the Darling and its tributaries abound with fine fish. There are various kinds of vegetable food in use. The yam of the country, about the Barwan, is a large root, in flavour and substance something like a water-melon, and though very juicy it grows in dry sand-hills. There is a clover-like plant, the beran, the roots of which (some three or four inches long and half an inch in diameter) they grind between stones and make up into palatable and nourishing cakes. The nardoo, found in central Australia, yields small seeds, which are ground and made into cakes. This was the chief food of the Aborigines on Cooper's