an unspeakable gloom and gravity, and all eyes are directed to the earth; in about ten minutes the nearest blood relation of any individual who has died since the stranger has visited his friends, advances to him with a measured pace, and without speaking, seats himself cross-legged on his thighs, under which he places his hands, at the same time pressing his breast to the stranger's; thus seated they mournfully avert their faces from one another, and preserve a perfect silence; no single word or sign of recognition passes between them, and after they have remained thus seated for several minutes, the native who had come to announce the death, rises 'slowly, and retires with the same gravity with which he had approached; other males of the family now successively approach the stranger, going through precisely the same ceremonies, none of them venturing to interchange a single word with him.

This part of the ceremony having been completed, the nearest female relative of the deceased approaches the stranger, and throwing herself upon her knees before him, she embraces his knees with her left arm, whilst with the nails of her right hand she scratches her cheek and nose until the blood drops from them, at the same time raising the most piteous cries and lamentations. After a few minutes she rises and approaches his wife, and seats herself on the ground in front of her; the two now encircle one another with their left arms, resting their heads on each other's shoulders, whilst

CUSTOMS IN MEETING IN THE BUSH.

257

they scratch their faces with their right hands, and cry and wail in a tone which excites in the minds of all who hear them sensations of deep grief; indeed I know of no sound, (not even excepting the Irish howl), which so fully expresses the passion of deep sorrow as this lament of the native women. When their cry is completed, the resident native woman rises from the ground, and slowly walks from the wife of the one who has returned to the camp; the other female relatives of the deceased then advance in turn, and go through the same form.

The returned absentee is now at liberty to speak, and some of the party in recitative recount to him all the leading facts that have occurred since their last meeting; they are, however, very careful not to mention the name of the person who is dead, but describe him by his attributes and family, in such a manner as to leave no doubt in the mind of the hearer; but to name aloud one who is departed, would be a gross violation of their most sacred prejudices, and they carefully abstain from it.

If natives meet in the bush, the foregoing ceremonies are in part observed: both parties at their first meeting sit down at a distance from one another, preserving a profound silence, and keeping their eyes fixed on the ground; after a time one of them commences a chant about himself, and from what great family he has sprung; they then approach one another, and if there is a death to communicate, the men press breast to breast, and knee to knee, remaining for some time with averted

faces, lost in melancholy thoughts; when they separate, the women approach and kneel, scratching their faces and crying in the way I have above described. Should no relative have died upon either side, the men, after rising up, approach one another, and enter into conversation; whilst the elder married females, if they like a stranger, embrace him affectionately, and give him a loud sounding kiss upon each cheek; -on several occasions I have had to submit myself, with as good a grace as I could, to this salutation.

In these casual meetings of natives, it occasionally happens, that several women kneel together, crying and embracing the knees of some old savage, who stands erect in the midst of the group, with a proud and lordly air, whilst they cower to the earth around him; sometimes they have children slung at their backs, and these little things may be seen unconsciously playing with their mothers' hair whilst this mournful scene is enacting. Some old women are scrupulously punctilious about the performance of all these matters of etiquette, attaching a degree of importance to them, which, in the eyes of civilized man, approaches the ludicrous; but they look upon them in a very different light. I have seen a number of these sticklers for form, kneeling round a little boy not more than six or seven years old, lamenting most bitterly, the little fellow meanwhile preserving in his countenance and bearing, all the gravity and dignity which a man could have exhibited.

CHAPTER XIV.

FOOD AND HUNTING.

ERRORS REGARDING SCARCITY OF THEIR FOOD-VARIETIES OF IT IN DIFFERENT LATITUDES-CAUSES OF OCCASIONAL WANT-LIST OF EDIBLE ARTICLES -IMPLEMENTS FOR DESTROYING ANIMALS-CONTENTS OF A NATIVE WOMAN'S BAG DIFFERENT METHODS OF CATCHING KANGAROOSCOOKING A KANGAROO-METHODS OF TAKING AND COOKING FISH-FEASTING ON A STRANDED WHALE-KILLING WILD DOGS-TURTLE-BIRDS-OPOSSUMS-FROGS-SHELLFISH

GRUBS

AND WALLOBIES.

EDIBLE ROOTS AND

SEEDS-MODE OF COOKING AND PREPARING THEM--FUNGI GUMS-COMMON RIGHTS IN CERTAIN FOOD.

ONE mistake, very commonly made with regard to the natives of Australia, is to imagine that they have small means of subsistence, or are at times greatly pressed for want of food: I could produce many, almost humorous instances of the errors which travellers have fallen into upon this point. They lament in their journals, that the unfortunate Aborigines should be reduced by famine to the miserable necessity of subsisting on certain sorts of food, which they have found near their huts; whereas, in many instances, the articles thus quoted by them are those which the natives most prize, and are really neither deficient in flavour nor nutritious quali

ties. I will give one remarkable example of an error of this kind into which a traveller of great ability has fallen; but this will only render palpable the ignorance that has prevailed with regard to the habits and customs of this people when in their wild state, for those who frequent European towns, and the outskirts of population, are soon compelled by the force of circumstances to depart, in a great measure, from their original habits.

Captain Sturt, to whom I allude, says in his travels (vol. i. page 118.)-" Among other things, we found a number of bark troughs filled with the gum of the mimosa, and vast quantities of gum made into cakes upon the ground. From this it

would appear that these unfortunate creatures were reduced to the last extremity, and, being unable to procure any other nourishment, had been obliged to collect this mucilaginous food."

The gum of the mimosa, thus referred to, is a favourite article of food amongst the natives, and when it is in season, they assemble in large numbers upon plains of the character previously described by Capt. Sturt, in order to enjoy this luxury. The profusion in which this gum is found enables large bodies to meet together, which, from their subsistence being derived from wild animals and vegetables of spontaneous growth, they can only do when some particular article is in full season, or when a whale is thrown ashore. In order more fully to shew how little the habits of this people have been understood, I may state with regard to this very gum, called by the natives kwon-nat,