Page:Aboriginesofvictoria01.djvu/222

 July, and August—the winter season of the year—the flats near the rivers and creeks were often flooded; and the low lands generally were wet and cold, and unsuitable for camping ground; and necessarily the natives moved to the best sheltered spots on the uplands, where they were able to catch native bears, wallabies, and wombats—and on these and on the pupæ of the ant, and on the grubs that are found in the trees, they chiefly supported themselves. In wet and very cold weather they were often miserable. When the rain fell heavily—perhaps for many days—the men kept sulkily to their willams, and no inducement would lead them to hunt game in the forests. The aspect of a camp at such times was dismal in the extreme. The fires were maintained, it is true; but the dripping trees, the wet grass, the rain pouring heavily on the bark of the miams, and penetrating them; the absence of children before the openings of the dwellings, and the forlorn appearance of the dogs moving occasionally from miam to miam, in search of better accommodation—made a picture only to be equalled by those that are familiar to the English people in the quarters of the cities and in the districts inhabited by the poorest and most neglected of the inhabitants. In the wet season the natives were undoubtedly unhappy—often starved—and never in a condition to indulge in mirth or amusements.

In the spring—during the months of September, October, and November—when the acacias blossom, and the watercourses in many places are resplendent with the rich yellow flowers of these trees; when the birds mate; when the coldness of winter is almost past, and only rarely, in exceptional periods, snow is seen or hail falls; when the first hot breath of the north wind makes itself felt in the spring—the natives moved slowly towards the lower lands. There they were able to snare ducks, to catch other kinds of wild-fowl, and, as the season advanced, to procure eggs from the nests of all kinds of birds. This was a time of rejoicing. They spent many hours in pleasant ramblings and in fishing and hunting when the moon was shining; and as the earth renewed her strength, and nature sprinkled the sward with flowers, and filled the heath-clad downs and the scrub-covered hill-sides with rich colors of flowering shrubs, the natives, too, awakening from the torpor that the coldness of winter had induced, put forth their strength, and, active and lively, hunted regularly and feasted heartily on the good things that were easily procurable by their skill. They never killed any creature that was not in good condition if they could help it, and any that was poor or lean was thrown aside. They cooked only the best of the birds and beasts, as a rule; but when pressed by hunger, everything that was taken was eaten, unless it was something forbidden by the laws, and these no one dared violate.

During the summer season—in the months of December, January, and February—when the temperature is very high, and the hot winds so scorching as sometimes to kill even indigenous trees; when the ground is baked into a hard crust, and cracked and fissured in all places where a thin soil covers granite or basalt, and when the earth is dusty even to the very edge of the fast disappearing swamps; when the snakes are active, and bask in broad day in any ungrassed patch of ground; when the small lizards dart to and fro, and the large iguanas slowly ascend their favorite trees for shelter or food; when the native bear goes