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 without assistance, tended it, and likewise gave attention to her ordinary duties. The mother would not he absent from the tribe usually more than a day or two. After that lapse of time she would return with her babe and follow her ordinary occupations.

In some parts, when a birth happened near the sea-shore, it was the custom to warm the sand on the sheltered side of a sandhill by making a small fire on it; and when the babe was born a hole was scraped, and it was placed in it and covered up to the neck with the warm sand. After the lapse of a few hours it was given to the mother, and her attention to it alone was deemed sufficient.

Until the child is able to walk pretty well it is carried in the opossum rug which is worn by the mother. The rug is so folded as to make a sort of bag at the back, in which the infant sits or lies contentedly. Whenever it needs refreshment, it extends its arms over the shoulder of the mother, seizes the teat, and without difficulty obtains what it needs.

The infants are suckled for long periods; indeed a child will not relinquish this easy mode of procuring a repast until the mother forcibly compels it to get a living for itself. And while very small—but yet able to move about only on hands and knees—it has a little stick put into its hands, and, following the example of elder children, it digs for roots, for the larvæ of ants, for such living things as it can find in decayed wood, and sometimes for the native bread (Mylitta Australis) where it is plentiful, and when the elder children are willing to help the little one. The infant soon learns to kill small lizards, and these, and the more easily procured kinds of food that the bush affords, serve to strengthen and fatten it.