Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/108

103 fancies of the builder or intending occupant, the only rule observed being that the back of each loondthal faces the windward. In this matter, though, they merely display the same instinctive promptings which are to be seen every day amongst the lower orders of creation, as even a sheep will select the lea side of a bush to make its lair in severe weather. All aboriginal loondthals are constructed after one fashion, which three sides of a bee hive, with the fourth lacking, very aptly illustrates.

In cold, rough weather the huts are made of bark, placed over a light framework of poles, all the top ends thereof resting together in a forked pole, which latter divides the front or open space of the habitation into two equal parts. Should bark be difficult to procure, the framework is covered with boughs or coarse grass, so as to be impervious to any moderate rain, but in boisterous, bitter weather these offer but a sorry protection against the elements.

During the warm and mild weather each family merely puts a few boughs in a semicircular form round the fire, and this is done more with the view of preventing the fire from being blown about by the wind than for any shelter which they are supposed to afford.

The building of the loondthals fall entirely upon the shoulders of the women—that is to say, any men having women folks in their families would disdain to aid in the erection of their dwellings. With the enforced bachelors, and such youths as club together, the matter is very different. They, of course, have to build their own huts, as well as do every other domestic duty for themselves.