he purpose of
making spears and knives; stones for hatchets; prepared cakes of gum, to
make and mend weapons and implements; kangaroo sinews to make spears and
to sew with; needles made of the shin-bones of kangaroos, with which they
sew their cloaks, bags, etc.; opossum hair to be spun into waist belts;
shavings of kangaroo skins to polish spears, etc.; the shell of a species
of mussel to cut hair, etc., with; native knives; a native hatchet;
pipe-clay; red ochre, or burnt clay; yellow ochre, a piece of paperbark
to carry water in; waistbands and spare ornaments; pieces of quartz which
the native doctors have extracted from their patients, and thus cured
them from diseases; these they preserve as carefully as Europeans do
relics. Banksia cones (small ones) or pieces of a dry white species of
fungus to kindle fire with rapidly and to convey it from place to place;
grease, if they can procure it from a whale, or from any other source;
the spare weapons of their husbands, or the pieces of wood from which
these are to be manufactured; the roots, etc., which they have collected
during the day. Skins not yet prepared for cloaks are generally carried
between the bag and the back, so as to form a sort of cushion for the bag
to rest on.

In general each woman carries a lighted fire-stick, or brand, under her
cloak and in her hand.

DIFFERENT METHODS OF CATCHING KANGAROOS.

Imagining several parties of this kind, headed by one of the young men,
to be moving through the woods, let us follow them and watch their mode
of procuring and cooking their different varieties of food.

MANNER OF HUNTING A KANGAROO SINGLY.

The moment an Australian savage commences his day's hunting his whole
manner and appearance undergo a wondrous change: his eyes, before heavy
and listless, brighten up, and are never for a moment fixed on one
object; his gait and movements, which were indolent and slow, become
quick and restless yet noiseless; he moves along with a rapid stealthy
pace, his glance roving from side to side in a vigilant uneasy manner,
arising from his eagerness to detect signs of game and his fears of
hidden foes. The earth, the water, the trees, the skies, each are in turn
subjected to a rigid scrutiny, and from the most insignificant
circumstances he deduces omens. His head is held erect and his progress
is uncertain, in a moment his pace is checked, he stands in precisely the
position of motion as if suddenly transfixed, nothing ab