Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/206

( 181 ) delicacy. Bread, beef, and fish, which they received from us, they devoured with great eagerness, swallowing large pieces without chewing, as if afraid of its being taken from them, but in no instance could we get them to drink. Spirits they appeared to dislike from the smell alone, and sweet punch they would taste and spit out again with disapprobation. They chew the green leaves of various plants, several of which had a slight stringent taste, and an aromatic smell.

Their huts merely serve the purpose of temporary shelter from the weather, They are constructed of branches of trees placed slanting and open on one side, which is always to leeward; if a fallen tree is near, it usually serves to support the hut, and sometimes when coarse grass