Having arrived at the chosen camp-site, each family group at once busies itself clearing a patch of ground of any obstacles, like stones and lumps of earth, the biggest of which are picked up by hand or crushed by foot, the smaller brushed aside with the sides of the feet. In addition, the women may be told to sweep the ground with branches to clear it of grass-seeds and burrs. Should it be that the spot is only reached after dusk, the natives set fire to one or two dry bushes, the glare of which supplies them with the necessary light.

Each adult scoops a “bed” for himself on the sand, and lights a small fire on one or both sides of it.

The northern coastal tribes very often spread sheets of paper-bark over the sand, and they might also cover their bodies with similar material. Should the mosquitoes become a great nuisance, one often sees them completely covered with sand.

The south-eastern tribes of Australia, including those of the River Murray and Adelaide Plains, used skins and rugs made of kangaroo and opossum skins, neatly sewn together, to lie upon and under.

The children sleep with or close to their parents. When an aboriginal has more wives than one, his camp is subdivided according to their number, and he sleeps with his favourite.

The strangest conditions reign on Groote Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria, where the women practically live apart from the men during the whole of the day, and only come into camp after sundown to deliver the food supplies they have collected over day. When on the march, every adult female carries two big sheets of paper-bark with her, which she holds with her hands, one in front and another behind her person. Whenever a stranger approaches, they duck behind these sheets of bark, as into a box, for cover.

No matter when or where an aboriginal camps, he constructs a brushwood shelter or windbreak at the head-end of his resting place. This consists of a few branches or tussocks stuck in the ground or piled against any bush, which might be growing upon the patch of ground selected. Under ordinary circumstances, this is the only shelter erected.

Even under the best of conditions, the night’s rest of an aboriginal is hard, and at times very cold and wet. It is not an uncommon experience for a person to sit up part of the night, hugging a fire, and when the sun is up to lie in its warmth to make good the sleep lost.

During a run of wet weather or when the camp is to be of a more permanent nature, different kinds of structures are erected, or already existing habitations selected, which will afford a better shelter than the crude structures referred to.

Natural caves or shelters beneath a sloping wall of rock, although frequently chosen as a mid-day camp, are not favoured on account of the superstitious dread of the evil spirit, whose haunts are supposed to be in the rocks. Caves are in any case only occupied during the heat of summer, the rocks being considered too cold to sit and lie upon in winter. If possible, a tribe will always make for the sandhill country in the winter, the sand making a very much softer and warmer bed. Such caves as are regularly occupied almost invariably have the walls and ceiling decorated with ochre drawings.

The opportunity of camping under large hollow tree-trunks, when available, is never neglected in wet weather. In the southern districts, as for instance the Adelaide Plains and along the River Murray, the large red-gums, especially such as have been partly destroyed by a passing bush-fire, supply the best covers of this description, whilst on the north coast of Australia the boabab occasionally becomes hollow in a like way, and makes a very snug and roomy camp.

Huts are constructed after different patterns according to the materials available. In the Musgrave Ranges, as in most parts of central Australia, the usual plan is to ram an uprooted dry trunk of mulga into the sand in an inverted position, so that the horizontal root system rests at the top, generally about five feet from the ground. Making this the central supporting column, branches of mulga and other bushes are placed in a slanting position against it, so that they rest between the roots at the top and form a more or less complete circle at the base, measuring some eight or nine feet in diameter. An opening is left, away from the weather-side, large enough to permit of free access. The spaces and gaps between the branches are filled with small bushes, tussocks, and grass, and on top of it all sand is thrown.

Very often the branches are placed around a standing tree for a central support, and now and again they are simply made to rest against one another in the required conical fashion.

Roof-like shelters are made by piling branches and brushwood either upon the overhanging branches of a tree or across two bushes which happen to be standing close together.

On Cooper’s Creek, in the extreme south-western districts of Queensland, these huts are more carefully constructed. A solid, almost hemispherical framework is erected consisting of stout curved posts, with a prong at one end, so placed that the prongs interlock on top and the opposite ends stand embedded in the sand in a circle. Vide Plate XV, 1. The structure is covered with the long reeds that abound along the banks of the large waterholes of the Cooper. Some of the huts are indeed so neatly thatched that they have quite a presentable appearance.

The eastern Arunndta groups, in the Arltunga district, cover a light framework of mulga stakes, erected after the general central Australian pattern, entirely with porcupine grass (Plate XV, 2).

At Crown Point, on the Finke River, other groups of the same tribe cover their huts with branches and leaves of the Red Gum.

When camped on the great stony plains or “gibbers” of central Australia, it is often very difficult to find a suitable covering for the huts, the vegetation being either unsuitable or too scanty. On that account the Yauroworka in the extreme north-east of South Australia utilize the flat slabs and stones which abound in that locality to deck their more permanent domiciles with. The supporting structure must, of course, be made particularly strong to carry the weight of the stones. The crevices between the stones are filled with clay to render them water-tight, and earth is banked up against the base of the walls both inside and outside.

Along the north coast of Australia, from the Victoria River to Cape York, the prevalent type of hut is a half-dome structure, whose frame consists of a series of parallel hoops, stuck into the ground and held in position by a number of flexible sticks tied at right angles to the former with shreds of Hybiscus bark. The ends of the cross-pieces are poked into the ground on that side of the framework which will be opposite the entrance of the hut when completed. The hoops are made of slightly decreasing size from the entrance towards the back, and so correspond in height with the upward curve of the cross-pieces. This skeleton-frame is covered with sheets of “paper-bark” (Melaleuca) and grass; and the floor of the interior is carpeted with similar material; a small space is however left uncovered to hold the fire. Such a hut measures about five feet by five feet at the base, and is four feet high. In Queensland palm leaves may take the place of the paper-bark sheets.

In districts where the mosquitoes are very troublesome, the dome is completed by erecting hoops on the open side as well, and making the cross-switches long enough to be lashed to them all and to be stuck into the sand at both ends. The whole structure is covered with bark, but three or four small holes are left along the base for the people to slip in by; and a ventilation-hole is left at the top of the dome to allow the smoke to escape from the fire, which is burned inside to keep out the insects.

Provisional rain-shelters are made by cutting a big sheet of bark from one of the eucalypts, usually the “stringy bark.” To do this the bark is chopped through circumferentially on the butt in two places, about seven or eight feet apart, slit vertically between the two incisions, and removed by levering it off with two chisel-pointed rods. The sheet is folded transversely at its centre and stood upon the sand like a tent.

At times the sheet of bark is simply laid length-wise against two or three sticks previously stuck into the ground. In the more durable structures of this type, two forked poles are rammed into the ground so that they can carry a horizontal piece after the fashion of a ridge-pole of a tent. Against the latter then are stood several sheets of bark at an angle of about forty-five degrees.

Occasionally a scaffold is erected with four poles and cross-pieces at the corners of an oblong space, and sheets of bark are then laid across the top. The sheets are of sufficient length to hang over the sides of the frame so that their weight bends them into an arch along the centre.

Commander Lort Stokes found similar structures near Roebuck Bay in the north of Western Australia, but in place of the bark they there had a slight, rudely-thatched covering.

In districts where thieving dogs, ants, or other vermin become troublesome, the men construct platform-larders, upon which any reserve supplies of meat are laid. Hawks are the greatest nuisance in camp. It is astonishing with what fearlessness such birds fly right into camp and swoop the meat from the natives. As a protection against theft of this description, the campers cover their stores with branches.

The position favoured during sleep is to lie upon one side, with the legs drawn up towards the stomach and bent in the knees. The head rests upon one or both hands; should one hand not be so occupied, it is usually placed between the closed thighs. At Delamere in the Victoria River country, the natives were observed to have convex pieces of bark in their possession which were used as head-rests during the night.

It goes without saying, of course, that the aboriginal might at any time change his position during sleep to one of the many commonly adopted by European or other people.

During the warm summer months, the campers are up with the first glimpse of dawn, but when the nights become cold, they often remain huddled by the fires until the sun is high up in the sky.

When a messenger or visitor approaches a camp at night, he will not do so without announcing his arrival in advance by loudly calling from afar to the groups at the fireside. Should a person be discovered prowling the surroundings of a camp, without having heralded his coming, he runs grave risk of being speared, on the chance that he be on no good business.

In the way of salutations, hand-shaking and kissing are unknown, but when two friends meet it is quite the usual thing for them to walk together for a while, hand-in-hand. When a person, who has been long absent, returns to camp, everybody is so overcome with joy that he starts crying aloud as if his joy were grief.

On the occasion of friendly Arunndta groups visiting, all members of both parties, male and female, approach each other with their spears, boomerangs, shields, and fighting sticks. The visitors first sit down in a body while the others walk around them, in a widening course, flourishing their weapons high in the air and shrieking with joy; later they return the civilities by acting similarly.

When seating himself, an aboriginal always prefers the natural surface of the ground to any artificial or natural object, which might serve him in a manner suggestive of a chair. Rocks and fallen tree-trunks might occasionally be used, and children are sometimes seen sitting upon the lowest big branches of trees, especially if they slope downwards to the ground. But even in these cases they rarely allow the legs to dangle, preferring to draw them, bent in the knee, close against the body, and usually with the arms thrown around the legs or resting upon the knees.

The men use the same method, when squatting at ease upon the ground, keeping their thighs apart, heels touching and close against the buttocks, with their elbows resting upon their knees and their hands usually joined in front. When the hands are to be used, the sitter acquires greater stability by placing the feet further apart and swinging the arms over the knees.

Another common posture is to double the shins under the thighs and rest them half-laterally upon the ground. This method is frequently combined with the previously mentioned by holding one leg one way and the other the other.

From either of these positions, the sitter may change by tucking the shins well under the thighs and rolling on to the side of one of his thighs.

Again, he may change by simply stretching his legs forward full length.

These methods are made use of by men, women, and children alike. Unless it be that the person prefers his legs to remain in close apposition, whilst squatting in any of the positions indicated, he will endeavour to hide his shame behind one of his feet. This is particularly characteristic of the women, and their natural sense of decency is prettily described in the narration of the voyage in search of La Perouse as follows: “Though for the most part they are entirely naked, it appears to be a point of decorum with these ladies, as they sit with their knees asunder, to cover with one foot what modesty bids them conceal in that situation.”

By their method of standing at ease on one leg, the natives of Australia have evolved a remarkable posture which reminds one of birds. In this position, a man rests the sole of his unoccupied foot against the knee of the standing leg, and usually props his body with a spear-thrower (Plate XVI, 2).

Strictly speaking, it is the duty of the women to gather firewood, although very often, when there is a supply close at hand, the men will also drag a few logs to the family camp. The women, on the other hand, are required to collect sufficient to keep the fire going, during the day for cooking purposes and during the night for warming and lighting purposes. At times this entails weary searching and long-distance marching. We have already referred to the way they lift the pieces of wood from the ground, between the toes of one foot, to the hand on the opposite side, by passing the piece behind the body; the same hand next stacks the wood upon the head, where the other holds and steadies it. By this method, the gin has no need to stoop, and can in consequence build up astonishingly high piles of wood upon her head (Plate XVII). A small pad is usually first laid upon the head to prevent the scalp from chafing and the wood from slipping. Arrived at the camp, a gin throws her load to the ground and breaks the longer pieces across her head with her hands.

A native’s idea of a good fire is to keep it as small as possible, but, at the same time, to derive a cheerful glow from it. His opinion of the European traveller’s camp-fire is that it is so ridiculously big that one cannot lie near to it, without being scorched. In the winter the native often selects a large dry log if available and keeps this aglow at one end throughout the night; in the absence of such a log, he will at frequent intervals find it necessary to attend to his fire during the cold hours of the night. So diligently, indeed, does he nurse his fire that his eyes often become inflamed in consequence of the continued irritation by smoke when he fans a smouldering flame with his breath.

A small fire like this, especially when it has burned for some time, is quite sufficient to cook all the smaller articles, which constitute the daily bill of fare, as for instance roots, tree-grubs, and lizards.

When, however, big game like a kangaroo is to be prepared, larger fires are essential and special culinary rules observed. A method, which has been in use practically everywhere in Australia, and is still found in use among the uncontaminated tribes, is to burn a big fire for a while upon a sandy patch, and then to lay a number of flat stones upon the red-hot coals and cover everything with sand. After a while the sand is scraped aside and the oven is ready for use. In the Northern Territory the stones are substituted by brick-like lumps broken off one of the tall termite-hills, which abound in that country.

In south-eastern Australia and along the River Murray the stones selected are usually composed of travertine or limestone.

In the Musgrave Ranges oven-stones are not in use, the game being simply laid upon, and covered with, hot ashes and sand.

“Big” cooking is done by the men, whilst the women are required to attend to the preparation of all smaller articles like yams, grubs, and seeds.

Slight variations are noticed in the method of cooking a kangaroo according to the locality. In the Musgrave Ranges, the animal is prepared whole. The skin is not detached, whilst the bony paws may, or may not, be removed beforehand in order to secure the sinews, which are used all over Australia for tying purposes in the manufacture of their implements and weapons. The carcase is laid upon its back and completely covered with hot ashes and sand, and thus permitted to cook. When sufficiently, and that according to our ideas often means only partly, cooked, the skin can easily be removed. The belly of the baked carcase is cut open and the gut laid aside. What remains is then pulled to pieces by hand and the portions distributed among all members having a right to such. The meat is tender and juicy when cooked this way. Even the intestines, after their contents have been squeezed out by the aid of two fingers, are eaten by the less privileged members of the tribe. The Arunndta call the last-named dish “uttna kalkal.” Most of the bones, if not crushed between the jaws, are shattered between two stones and the marrow eaten.

The Wogait and other tribes on the north coast break the legs of the animal and tie them together in pairs with shreds of Hybiscus bark. The carcase is opened at one side to remove the entrails, and an incision is also made into the anus to clear it. In the case of a kangaroo, the tail is cut off and cooked separately in ashes. The skin is not removed. When thus prepared, the animal is transferred to an oven as described above and first covered with a piece or two of “paper-bark,” then with hot sand and ashes.

In order that they may readily scoop out a fireplace, scrape the sand to and from the roast, and handle the meat, vegetable, seed-cake, or whatever the article in the oven might happen to be, the Northern Kimberley tribes have invented a long wooden shovel. This is a slightly hollowed blade, about three feet in length, four inches wide at the lower end, and decreasing in width at the hand end. The implement is mostly cut out of a sheet of eucalyptus bark.

The central tribes generally make use of a discarded or defective boomerang, which seems to answer the purpose very well.

Perhaps the most important article a native possesses is the fire-stick. No matter where he might be, on the march or in camp, it is his constant companion. Important as it is, the fire-stick is only a short length of dry branch or bark, smouldering at one end. It is carried in the hand with a waving motion, from one side to another. When walking in the dark, this motion is brisker in order to keep alive sufficient flame for lighting the way. A body of natives walking in this way at night, in the customary Indian file, is indeed an imposing sight. Directly a halt is made, a fire is lit, to cook the meals at day and to supply warmth during sleep at night. When camp is left, a fresh stick is taken from the fire and carried on to the next stopping place.

In consequence of carrying the fire-stick too close to the body during cold weather, most of the natives have peculiar, irregular scars upon abdomen and chest which have been caused by burns. The Wongapitcha call these marks “pika wairu.”

If by accident the fire should become extinguished, a fresh flame is kindled by one of the methods depending upon the friction and heat which are produced by rubbing two pieces of wood together. Two methods are in use, all over Australia and the associated islands to the north; the one is by means of the “fire-whisk,” the other by the “fire-saw.”

In the first-mentioned case, two pieces of wood are used, usually a flat basal piece, with a small circular hollow in its centre, and a long cylindrical stick, rounded at one end. The native assumes a sitting position with his legs slightly bent in the knees. He places the flat piece of wood upon the ground and holds it securely beneath his heels. The rounded point is now inserted into the small hollow, and, holding the stick vertically between the flat palms of his hands, the native briskly twirls it like a whisk (Plate XXII). The twirling action is, however, not backwards and forwards, but in one direction only. After a while, the wood dust that accumulates by the abrasion begins to smoke, then smoulder. Suddenly the native throws his stick aside, and quickly stooping over the smoking powder, gently blows upon it whilst he adds a few blades of dry straw or other easily inflammable material. When the smouldering dust has been coaxed into flame, more straw and twigs are added, then larger pieces of wood, until eventually a blazing fire results.

Often a small notch is cut at the side of the central hollow in order that the smouldering powder might find its way down to a piece of bark placed beneath the basal stick, and there, by the aid of gentle blowing, ignite the dry grass, which was previously laid upon the bark for that purpose.

Usually, during the process of twirling, a little fine sand is placed upon the hollow to increase the friction. A curious practice was observed among the Larrekiya at Port Darwin, which seems to be opposed to the friction principle. When the fire-maker has, by careful twirling, adjusted the point of the upright stick, so that it fits nicely into the hole in the basal piece, he squeezes a quantity of grease from the sebaceous glands of his nose, which he scrapes together with his finger-nails and transfers in a lump to the ankle of his left foot. Then he resumes the twirling, and, so soon as the stick begins to smoke, he applies its hot end to the grease, which spreads itself over the point. The stick having been thus lubricated, the process is continued as before.

The central tribes, like the Dieri, Wongapitcha, and Aluridja, usually make the basal piece short and flat, and wider than the twirling stick. The Dieri select needlebush for the twirling stick, and Hack’s Pea (Crotalaria) for the basal piece. The other tribes mentioned combine the needlebush wood with that of a mulga root.

The northern tribes almost invariably employ two long sticks, one of which has a rounded point at one end, the other a series of shallow circular pits, into which the point of the twirling piece just described fits when the implement is in use.

The Mulluk-Mulluk, Ponga-Ponga, and other tribes of the Daly River district carry a number of these sticks about with them, especially in the rainy season, when there is always a chance of the fire-stick being extinguished by an unexpected tropical deluge. The fire-making apparatus is carried in a receptacle, which consists of a single segment of a bamboo, with a septum at the bottom. The sticks are stuck into this cylindrical holder, which keeps them perfectly dry even during a prolonged season of rain, after the fashion of arrows in a quiver.

Fire-making implements are carried by the men, whilst the fire-stick is, as often as not, carried by the women also. As we have already seen in connection with the carriage of water, it is the concern of the women to undertake the transport of the camp-belongings from one site to another. When moving they pack themselves with the domestic implements, collecting-vessels, personal paraphernalia, and their infants, whilst their husbands burden themselves only to the extent of a few spears, a spear-thrower, and the fire-producing sticks just mentioned. The men declare that it would be most unwise to be burdened with any impediment themselves, while on the march, because at any moment, and when least expected, they might be pounced upon by an enemy, who would make good use of their unpreparedness. So also, should game of any kind suddenly come into view, the men, who are the recognized hunters, must always be ready for quick action, or in a position to take up the chase immediately. Hence it comes about that in the best interests of the tribe the women are required to undertake the transport.

The men spend hours at a time in camp making or sharpening spears. When, moreover, the weapons are not in use, the hunters are most punctilious in preserving them from harm. The rule of the camp is never to lay a spear upon the ground for any length of time for two reasons; firstly, to prevent it from warping, and secondly, to eliminate the risk of breakage by somebody carelessly walking on to it. For these reasons the men, when camped, always take the precaution to stand their spears in a more or less upright position against the entrance of their huts, or against any bush or tree which happens to be growing close at hand.

Whenever possible, the opportunity of a sojourn in camp is seized for conducting a festive dance and song. For this purpose head-gears and other decorations have to be manufactured, plumes and permanent ornaments renovated, and pigments prepared to adorn the persons taking part in the performance. Upon such occasions a native is never seen idle.

Quite apart from preparing himself in anticipation of an extraordinary event, however, a native might take advantage of a delay in camp to manufacture an article with which he can barter with an adjoining tribe. The most common article thus prepared is ochre. Many tribes do not possess a deposit of this natural pigment and they are most anxious to do business with their neighbours. In exchange for the ochre, they offer such things as weapons, pitjuri-leaf, fish, or yams. The ochre is carried to its destination either in lumps or prepared as a fine powder. In the former case it is packed in small fibre or fur-string bags; in the latter the powder is wrapped in thin sheets of bark and tied together with string into neat parcels. The preparation of the ochre-powder entails much grinding between the stone surfaces of a hand-mill. The ochre is used for decorating the body, as well as implements and weapons.

If now we enquire into the method of dress adopted by the aborigines of Australia, we find that most of the tribes originally walked about in the nude, and, apart from a few small personal decorations, possessed nothing in the shape of a covering which might be described as a dress. The advent of civilization has largely interfered with this ancient practice.

The now practically extinct south-eastern tribes, including those along the River Murray, used more of a body-covering than any others. Opossum, wallaby, and any suitable marsupial skins were collected and carefully sewn together, and with these rugs the natives could, if need be, cover the greater part of their bodies.

By far the most common mode is to tie a string around the waist, from which is suspended a tassel to cover the pubes. These tassels vary considerably in size according to the tribe which wears them. The smallest are found among the Wongapitcha in the Mann and Tomkinson Ranges; the appendage is there only worn by the men and is barely large enough to cover the part. It is made of human hair strands fastened at the knot of the tassel directly to the pubes; the covering is known as the “moiranje.” As a general rule, it might be said that the northern tribes have larger coverings than the central, although the Yantowannta and other Barcoo River tribes wear them as large as any. Even the Arunndta and Aluridja at special functions suspend large pubic tassels of fur-string from the waist-band.

The northern type of tassel consists of a great number of strings, usually of opossum fur, bound to a central piece, which is attached to the waist-band, either by two separate terminal strings, or by means of one single tie from the top of the tassel. The completed covering hangs from the waist like an apron. This type of pubic tassel is known to all north-central and northern tribes, and might be worn by either adult male or married female.

In place of the tassel a small sheet of the paper-bark is popular amongst the north coastal tribes. A narrow strip, from eight to twelve inches long, is folded transversely at its middle and hung over the waist-band, from which it pends like an apron as described of the tassel. Captain Matthew Flinders is perhaps the first European to have observed this custom, as far back as 1803, at Caledon Bay, where he observed a girl wearing “a small piece of bark, in guise of a fig leaf, which was the sole approximation to clothing seen.”

The women of Bathurst Island carry folded sheets of the paper-bark or large food-carriers about with them, which, upon the approach of strangers, they hold in front of their person.

Along the whole length of coast line of north Australia, the large shell of the pearl-oyster is made use of as a pubic covering. Even among such tribes as live remote from the sea, one may occasionally find the shell so used, in which case, of course, it has been acquired from a coastal tribe by barter. In order to hang the shell, two holes are drilled through it near the hinge line, at the top, and a string passed through them, with which it is tied to a belt. The rough exterior surface of the shell is ground smooth; and it is this side which lies against the body. The nacreous inner surface is frequently decorated with either painted designs or carvings subsequently tinted with ochre. The Sunday Island natives are especially adept at this type of decorative art, which will be referred to later.

Although the aboriginal does not wear much clothing, he is very particular about regularly anointing his supple skin. This precaution no doubt gives him greater protection against the changes of weather than all the modern ideas of clothing could do. What he principally applies is fat of emu and goanna, and on the north coast that of some of the larger fish as well. The emu in particular, and especially during a good season, accumulates masses of fat under its skin, which are readily removed, when slain by the hunter. This grease the native rubs over the whole surface of his body to shield the skin from the painful sting of the broiling sun and of the arid wind. In addition he covers certain parts of his body and face with red ochre and charcoal, both for cosmetic and protective purposes. The application of coloured pigments for purely decorative and ceremonial purposes will be discussed later.

Hair-belts are worn by young and old, male and female. Children have only one or two twisted fur-strings tied around the waist. Among the coastal tribes of the Northern Territory, men wear belts made of twisted human hair. A skein of about thirty strings is tied at two points diametrically opposite, and, making these the ends, the sixty strings are loosely twisted into a hank about two feet in length. The belt thus completed is tied around the waist with a piece of human hair-string. The article is of practical use since it permits of carrying various implements and weapons, which a man sticks between the belt and his body. A Wogait warrior was seen with a tomahawk thus placed at the back of his body; to stay the swinging of the handle he held it securely in the cleft between his buttocks. The same type of belt is used by the tribes of the Northern Kimberleys, and there they are always chosen when a man is wearing the pearl-shell appendage.

The Worora construct more elaborate articles by winding much human hair-string circumferentially (i.e. spirally) round a thick inner skein like the one described above. The finished belt looks like a cylindrical ring about an inch in thickness.

Other kinds of belts are made, but they are more for gala occasions, as when ceremonies are performed and tribal dances arranged.

When his affairs are working harmoniously, game secured, and water available, the aboriginal makes his life as easy as possible; and he might to the outsider even appear lazy. Blessed with a fair share of pristine philosophy by heredity, his motto might be interpreted in words to the effect that while there is plenty for to-day never care about to-morrow. On this account an aboriginal is inclined to make one feast of his supplies, in preference to a modest meal now and another by and by. The result is that, when a beast has been roasted, the whole of it is eaten, even though the participant family or group be small in comparison with the bulk of the spread. In consequence of this custom, the surfeiters find it necessary in times of plenty to frequently lie in camp, in undisguised idleness, until such time has lapsed as Nature must demand of their systems to overcome the discomforts which the reckless gorging had brought about. During this period of digestive recovery, an aboriginal endeavours to spend most of his time in sleeping off the objectionable after-effects of his temporary indiscretion. As an apology, however, one must admit that only too often the same individual is compelled to go for many days without even a mouthful to eat, and possibly, at the same time existing on a minimum of water, under the most trying conditions imaginable—conditions whose origin must be traced to the cycles of drought the great southern continent is heir to, and which have become more drastic in their effects, since the coming of the white man, through the extermination of many indigenous animals and plants the original owners of the land used to depend upon for their existence.

It is during the leisure hours of any stay in camp that attention is paid to such operations as hair-cutting and beard-removing previously referred to. When the natives have been on the march for a time, and especially after they have been out hunting or collecting, numbers of thorns, prickles, and splinters are picked up by the soles of their feet, in spite of the thick horny nature of the skin. Many of these break off short and in due course set up irritation, necessitating their removal. Firstly the sufferer tries to remove the foreign body from the skin with his finger-nails; failing to succeed by this method, he cuts a small piece of wood the shape of an awl, and with its sharp point removes the obstacle. The prickle is often completely buried and quite invisible to the eye, yet it has to be removed. In order to locate it under those conditions, the aboriginal resorts to the method, not infrequently applied by the modern surgeon, of gently pressing the skin at different places with the tip of the instrument until the seat of pain has been located. At that spot he cuts away the skin to a depth sufficient to expose the hidden body, which he can then in most cases express with his fingers. During these operations the natives repeatedly give vent to a sharp, yet subdued “irr,” combining the expression of pain with that of disgust or temper.

The method adopted by the natives of walking one behind the other, where possible, is partly to minimize the risk of picking up prickles with their feet, and partly to obliterate the individual tracks of the party.

The dog is the aboriginal’s constant companion. In the original tribal areas the dingo, Australia’s wild dog, is captured and tamed young; in the more civilized districts the European dog has been acquired and bred by the natives in alarmingly large numbers. The animals are kept by both man and woman—in a single wurley one might count as many as fifteen dogs living with the human occupants. The yelping hordes are useless, except perhaps that they raise the alarm when strangers approach the camp. Some of them are indeed dangerously vicious. The natives have the dogs about them merely for the love they bear towards them; it is on account of the unreasonable amount of petting and pampering, received at the hands of their masters, that the dogs become so thoroughly useless. A native just holds the unruly mob about him for company sake; he prefers to rely upon his own skill and instinct when hunting, and rarely allows his dogs to go with him; in fact, there seems little inclination on the part of the dogs to accompany the chase with their master. They are so well looked after, and regularly steal so much from the general supplies of the camp, that they grow fat and lazy. When a dog seems to be off colour, or has been accidentally hurt, it is nursed like a sick child; it is placed by the fireside, upon the best rug available, and covered with other rags, the natives themselves going without any covering. One might occasionally find a gin going so far as to even suckle a pup at her breast.

Interesting discussions have taken place as to whether the dingo is indigenous to Australia or whether it has come hither from some other land, possibly with man. The wild dog found in the mountains of Java certainly resembles the dingo very closely. Whether or no, the dingo has existed in Australia quite as long as the primitive tribes. Osseous remains of the wild dog have been found contemporaneous with the extinct Diprotodon and other pre-historic monsters. Indeed in the “mammalian drifts” filling the ancient valleys of the ranges in the Noarlunga district, south of Adelaide, bones of such animals have been found showing distinctly the teeth-marks of the dingo upon them. In Victoria, and New South Wales also, dog remains have been found in old cave deposits in company with fossil-mammals and struthious birds, often buried beneath the basaltic flows and ashes of Mount Gambier and other volcanoes, which have long since become dormant. It seems most probable, therefore, that the dingo existed in Australia in the Pliocene period, or at any rate in that immediately following it. It is a strange circumstance that the dingo has never been traced to Tasmania, although, immediately opposite that island on the mainland, the dog was most plentiful in by-gone times. The surmise is that the animal had in its migration not reached so far south before Tasmania was severed from the Australian continent by the breaking through of Bass Strait. It is reasonable to assume then that the dingo came to the south of Australia subsequent to the aboriginals who inhabited Tasmania.