Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/24

19 terms of amity; that, however, is only a matter of course, since they ascribe all the ills with which Nature smites them to the same source.

Their food consists of fish principally, and of which for about eight months in the year they have abundance; so large, indeed, is their supply during those months, they cannot nearly consume it, consequently quite a moiety is allowed to go to waste.

To supplement the fish, they have kangaroo, emu, opossum, and wallaby, and besides these nearly every kind of aquatic bird is found in the greatest profusion on the lakes and lagoons. The latter they capture in immense numbers by the aid of nets, manufactured for that purpose only, and during the breeding season they get eggs by the thousand. The canoes arriving at the camps at that time are literally laden down to the water's edge with eggs only; they are heaped up at both ends until there is barely room for the native to stand and paddle. It is of but small moment to them whether the eggs have birds in them or not; they are consumed with a relish all the same, be they fresh or stale.

A species of flag, having a farinaceous root, called by the natives kumpung, grows in abundance by the margin of all the great rivers and lakes; it makes a very palatable and nutritious food, of which the natives are justly fond. It can be procured in abundance, but as it requires considerable labour to dig, much less of it is procured than its manifold merits warrant. The flower stem of this flag is