Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/255

 out the blood as it exudes, into the conjeboi leaf, and continues to saw her gums until she has obtained a considerable quantity of blood, which is then swallowed by the sick man!

In the thinly wooded plains, and arid country beyond the mountains dividing the eastern and western waters, the blacks experience much greater difficulty in procuring food, and sometimes suffer severely from famine in times of drought; and from this reason the tribes of the interior wander over a much more extensive tract of country than the coast blacks.

Although, from the preceding details, the Australian natives might be deemed the dirtiest savages in the world, with regard to the nature of the food they eat, and their mode of cooking it, yet such is not the case. It is quite true, as many writers have reported, that the produce of the chase, such as opossums, squirrels, pademellas, guanas, ducks, &c, are thrown down unskinned and unembowelled before the fire, and devoured, entrails and all. But having often observed the mode of cookery pursued by the Australian Aborigines, I have never seen them omit to extract the entrails as soon as the animal was warmed through, and they are then carefully cleaned and cooked separately. With regard to the skin being left on, (which is not always the case,) it is purposely done in order to