Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/19

 heat generated by vegetable decomposition—Pigeons—The Wonga-wonga—Its habits—Very difficult to shoot—Peculiar delicacy of its flesh—The flock-pigeon of the brushes—Easily shot—Bronze-wing pigeon—Black pigeon—Fruit-pigeon—Its brilliant plumage—Doves—Spur-winged Plovers—Snipes—Curlews—Black Swans—Curious method of chasing them in a boat—Pelicans—Quantity of oil contained in them—Divers, Godwits, and Red-bills—Swamp Pheasants, Lyre-birds, Bustards—Snakes of Australia almost all venomous—Description of the different species in the colony—Peculiar action of the poison of the generality of Australian snakes—Account of the symptoms experienced by the author from the bite of a large snake at the MacLeay in 1841—Treatment under which he recovered—Description of a curious salt-water snake of the genus Hydrophis, killed in Tryal Bay in 30&deg; 50' S.—Extreme poison of sea-snakes exemplified by two cases—The Aborigines of the north-eastern part of the territory, vary considerably in some of their habits from those to the southward and westward—The more circumscribed limits roamed over by each tribe—Abundance of indigenous food for the native population in the north-eastern districts—Impossibility of their ever suffering from famine—Exaggerated statements respecting the miserable condition of the Aborigines of New South Wales—Comparison between them and other savage races, in several respects advantageous to the former—Customs of the natives of the MacLeay River—Their Cawarra ceremonies different from those of the generality of the Aborigines—Description of the Cawarra—Accounts of some fights between different tribes of the MacLeay River—Their cruelty and treachery towards the whites—Their civilization almost hopeless—Their wonderful intelligence

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