Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/268

 194 THE ENCOUNTER BAY TRIBE. In hunting the kangaroo they sometimes go a number together, and sometimes singly. When going singly, the native takes care to have his spear in good order; he places it over the fire to straighten it, sharpens the point with a shell, and barbs it with pieces of quartz or glass, fixed on with the resin of the grass-tree. Having prepared his spear he takes his Koye (basket) upon his shoulder, which contains his throwing stick and other weapons of defence, and goes in search of his prey. When arrived at the place where he expects to find some kangaroo, he seems quite a different man. He is now silent; rolling his eyes from side to side, and looking in every direction, he moves forward with long strides, his body erect and arm motionless, the spear grasped in both hands, and held obliquely in front. As soon as he perceives a kangaroo he stops suddenly, and watches an opportunity to steal upon it while holding down its head to graze; when near enough he fixes the spear in the throwing stick, and taking his aim he sends it flying at his prey, which seldom escapes him. When a number go in company they endeavour to surround the kangaroo, and gradually close in upon him, and at length despatch him with their spears and sticks. The emu is hunted in the same manner. Other tribes are said to use large nets in taking the kangaroo and emu; but it is quite foreign to the practice of the tribes of whom we are now speaking. The opossum is hunted only by some tribes. In this district the Raminjerar are the only opossum hunters, and they manifest considerable dexterity in getting them from the hollow branches of trees which they inhabit. Before ascending a tree they examine the bark to see if an opossum has recently gone up, by the marks which their claws leave upon the bark. Having determined that there is an opossum in the tree, one commences to climb, and in a few seconds ascends thirty or forty feet without any branches to assist, and this accomplished only by means of a stick about two feet long, pointed at one end. With this stick he first makes a small hole in the bark, into which he inserts the great toe of the left foot, and then driving the point of the stick held by the right hand into the bark as high as he can,