h, if they take to
cattle, they are, beyond any thing, quick in tracing and finding those
lost. So acute is their power of discrimination, that they have been
known to trace the footsteps of bush-rangers over mountains and rocks;
and, although the individual they have been in pursuit of has walked
into the sides of the river as if to cross it, to elude the vigilance
of his pursuers, and has swam some distance down and crossed when
convenient, yet nothing can deceive them. Indeed, so remarkable is
their discernment, that if but the slightest piece of moss on a rock
has been disturbed by footsteps, they will instantly detect it. The
aborigines of this island have no appointed place or situation to live
in; they roam about at will, followed by a pack of dogs, of different
sorts and sizes, but which are used principally for hunting the
kangaroo, oppossum, bandicoot, &c. They are passionately fond of their
dogs; so much so, that the females are frequently known to suckle a
favourite puppy instead of the child. They rarely ever move at night,
but encircle themselves round a large fire, and sleep in a sitting
posture, with their heads between their knees. So careless are they of
their children, that it is not uncommon to see boys grown up with feet
exhibiting the loss of a toe or two, having, when infants, been
dropped into the fire by the mother. The children are generally
carried (by the women) astride across the shoulders, in a careless
manner. They live entirely by hunting, and do not fish so much, or use
the canoe, as in New South Wales, although the women are tolerably
expert divers; the craw-fish and oyster, if immediately on the coast,
are their principal food. Oppossums and kangaroos may be said to be
their chief support; the latter is as delicious a treat to an epicure,
as the former is the reverse. The manner of cooking their victuals is
by throwing it on the fire, merely to singe off the hair; they eat
voraciously, and are very little removed from the brute creation as to
choice of food; entrails, &c. sharing the same chance as the choicest
parts. They are extremely expert in climbing, and can reach the top of
the largest forest-trees without the aid of branches; they effect this
by means of a small sharp flint, which they clasp tightly in the ball
of their four fingers, and having cut a notch out of the bark, they
easily ascend, with the large toe of each foot in one notch, and their
curiously manufactured hatchet