Of co

[Vanwie <dis...@ha...>]

Mu I ever saw, by the way, was more than six feet high, whilst the
biggest kangaroo I came across was even taller than this. Snakes were
always killed with sticks, whilst birds were brought down with the
wonderful boomerang. As a rule, only sufficient food was obtained to
last from day to day; but on the occasion of one of the big _battues_ I
have described there would be food in abundance for a week or more, when
there would be a horrid orgy of gorging and one long continuous
_corroboree_, until supplies gave out. The sport which I myself took up
was dugong hunting; for I ought to have mentioned that I brought a
harpoon with me in the boat, and this most useful article attracted as
much attention as anything I had. The natives would occasionally put
their hands on my tomahawk or harpoon, and never ceased to wonder why
the metal was so cold. Whenever I went out after dugong, accompanied by
Yamba (she was ever with me), the blacks invariably came down in crowds
to watch the operation from the beach. But, you will ask, what did I
want with dugong, when I had so much other food at hand? Well my idea
was to lay in a great store of dried provisions against the time when I
should be ready to start for civilisation in my boat. I built a special
shed of boughs, in which I conducted my curing operations; my own
living-place being only a few yards away. It was built quite in European
fashion, with a sloping roof. The interior was perhaps twenty feet
square and ten feet high, with a small porch in which my fire was kept
constantly burning. When we had captured a dugong the blacks would come
rushing into the sea to meet us and drag our craft ashore, delighted at
the prospect of a great feast. The only part of the dugong I preserved
was the belly, which I cut up into strips and dried. The blacks never
allowed their fires to go out, and whenever they moved th