gainst that
end on which the wind blows. This hut serves them for a
habitation, and will contain a whole family; for, when the
weather is cold, which is frequently the case in winter, they
find it necessary to lie very close for the benefit of that
warmth to which each mutually contributes a share. These bark
huts, (if they deserve even the name of huts) are intended, as we
have lately discovered, for those who are employed in hunting the
kangaroo, opossums, or in short, any other animals which are to
be found in the woods; for at certain seasons, when those animals
are in plenty, they employ themselves frequently in catching
them.

[* For an exact description and representation of
this hut, see Governor Phillip's Voyage.]

As most of the large trees are hollow, by being rotten in the
heart, the opossum, kangaroo rat, squirrel, and various other
animals which inhabit the woods, when they are pursued, commonly
run into the hollow of a tree: in order, therefore, to make sure
of them, which they seldom fail in, when they find them in the
tree, one man climbs even the tallest tree with much ease, by
means of notches at convenient distances, that are made with a
stone hatchet; when he is arrived at the top, or where there may
be an outlet for the animal, he sits there with a club or stick
in his hand, while another person below applies a fire to the
lower opening, and fills the hollow of the tree with smoak; this
obliges the animal to attempt to make its escape, either upwards
or downwards, but whichever way it goes, it is almost certain of
death, for they very seldom escape. In this manner they employ
themselves, and get a livelihood in the woods.

They also, when in considerable numbers, set the country on
fire for several miles extent; this, we have generally
understood, is for the purpose of disturbing such animals as may
be within reach of the conflagration; and thereby they have an
opportunity of killing many. We have also had much reason to
believe, that those fires were intended to clear that part of the
country through which they have frequent occasion to travel; of
the brush or underwood, from which they, being naked, suffer very
great inconvenience. The fires, which we very frequently saw,
particularly in the summer-time, account also for an appearance,
which, when we arrived here, we were much perplexed to understand
the cause of; this was, that two-thirds of the trees in the woods
were very much scorched