Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/678

 554 NATIVE FOOD SUPPLY. 1837-9 sufficient supply of food for the day, but their usual custom is to roam indolently from spot to spot, lazily collecting it as they wander along. That an accurate idea may be formed of the quantity and kinds of food which they obtain, I have given below a list of those in use amongst the aborigines of south-western Australia, which I have seen them collect and eat Menu. Six aorts of kangaroo Twenty -nine sorts of fish One kind of whale Two species of seal Wild dogs Three kinds of turtle Emus, wild turkeys, and birds of every kind Two species of opossum Eleven kinds of frogs Four kinds of fresh- water shell-fish All salt-water shell-fish, except oysters Four kinds of grubs E^;gs of every species of bird and lizard Five animals, something smaller in size than rabbits Eight sorts of snakes Seven sorts of iguana Nine species of mice and small rats Twenly-nine sorts of roots Seven kinds of fungus Four sorts of gum Two sorts of manna Two species of by-yu, or the nut of the zamia palm Two species of mesembryantheum Two kinds of nut Four sorts of fruit The flower of several species of Banksia One kind of earth which they pound and mix with the roots of the mene The seeds of several leguminous plants. One of the native methods of cooking is described by Grey as follows : — If the fish are not cooked by being merely thrown on Artistic the fire and broiled, they dress them in a manner worthy of b^ing cookery. adopted by the most civilised nations ; this is called " yudam 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 one drop of which has escaped. Several of the smaller sorts of fresh-water fiush, in size and taste resembling whitebait, are really delicious when cooked in this manner; they occasionally also dress pieces of kangaroo and other meats in the same way. Digitized by Google