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204 The fish commonly taken and eaten in Gippsland are as follow:—

The whale (Kaandha) and the porpoise (Kornon) are only procured when stranded. No efforts are made to catch them. The seal (Ngalewan) is killed on the beach.

The dugong is caught and eaten by the natives of the north, and much skill is shown by them in capturing this creature.

The natives did not use much art in cooking fish. They were thrown on the fire and broiled, and eaten without salt. The women often had fires in their canoes, and they could cook and eat the fish as soon as they were caught. In some parts, however, they adopted an excellent method. It is thus described by Grey:—

"If the fish are not cooked by being merely thrown on the fire and broiled, they dress them in a manner worthy of being adopted by the most civilized nations; this is called yudarn dookoon, or 'tying-up cooking.' A piece of thick and tender paper-bark is selected, and torn into an oblong form; the fish is laid in this, and the bark wrapt round it, as paper is folded round a cutlet; strings formed of grass are then wound tightly about the bark and fish, which is then slowly baked in heated sand, covered with hot ashes; when it is completed, the bark is opened, and serves as a dish: it is, of course, full of juice and gravy, not a drop of which has escaped. Several of the smaller sorts of fresh-water fish, in size and taste resembling whitebait, are really delicious