ip with the
fore-finger and thumb, and pressing it together, whilst the tongue is
placed against the groove, or hollow thus formed, and the breath strongly
forced through. Whistling is also practised in a variety of other ways,
and has peculiar sounds well known to the natives, which indicate the
object of the call. It is used to call attention, to point out that game
is near, to make each other aware of their respective positions in a
wooded country, or to put another on his guard that an enemy is near,
etc., etc.

Such is an outline of some of the kinds of food used by the natives, and
the modes of procuring it as practised in various parts of Australia
where I have been. There is an endless variety of other articles, and an
infinite number of minute differences in the ways of procuring them,
which it is unnecessary to enter upon in a work which professes to give
only a general account of the Aborigines, their manners, habits, and
customs, and not a full or complete history, which could only be compiled
after the observation of many years devoted exclusively to so
comprehensive a subject.

In the preparation and cooking of their food, and in the extent to which
this is carried, there are almost as many differences as there are
varieties of food. Having no vessels capable of resisting the action of
fire, the natives are unacquainted with the simple process of boiling.
Their culinary operations are therefore confined to broiling on the hot
coals, baking in hot ashes, and roasting, or steaming in ovens. The
native oven is made by digging a circular hole in the ground, of a size
corresponding to the quantity of food to be cooked. It is then lined with
stones in the bottom, and a strong fire made over them, so as to heat
them thoroughly, and dry the hole. As soon as the stones are judged to be
sufficiently hot, the fire is removed, and a few of the stones taken, and
put inside the animal to be roasted if it be a large one. A few leaves,
or a handful of grass, are then sprinkled over the stones in the bottom
of the oven, on which the animal is deposited, generally whole, with hot
stones, which had been kept for that purpose, laid upon the top of it. It
is covered with grass, or leaves, and then thickly coated over with
earth, which effectually prevents the heat from escaping. Bark is
sometimes used to cover the meat, instead of grass or leaves, and is in
some respects better adapted for that purpose, being less liable to l