Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/250

 certainly looks well enough, and I have heard that at the Mauritius a similar sort of bat is eaten by the planters.

The large forest kangaroos are seldom hunted by the natives in this part of the colony, for during my residence there, I never remember more than two occasions on which I have seen the blacks feeding on kangaroo, which they had speared themselves; indeed, if the forest kangaroo should become entirely extinct in this part of the country, it would be quite immaterial to these natives.

Fish, in the numerous rivers along this part of the coast, forms a never- failing article of food for the blacks, whom I have seen, at the MacLeay and Nambucca rivers, spear in a few minutes sufficient fish for the whole tribe, on the shallow sand-banks and mud-flats on that part of the river, which rises and falls with the tide. The sea-beach abounds with clams, oysters, and cockles, at all times procurable, whilst large cray-fish and crabs are caught among the rocks. In the lagoons and running streams, the natives obtain several kinds offish, large eels, a small kind of lobster and fresh-water muscles.

The reptile kingdom is also brought into requisition by these omnivorous savages. All the larger varieties of snakes are eaten by them, but they will never touch one that has been killed by a white man. Guanas, and a short thick kind of lizard, called the Dew-lizard, are also much relished by them. However repugnant the idea of eating