Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/293

 WEAPONS. 215 will gradually separate and fall out of the vessel at its lower end, while the lighter particles seek the raised end, and thus leave, at last, the eatable grubs cleaned in the middle. The grubs are already possessed of life at the time when the natives eat them, and it is on this account probably, that they wrap them up in a clean bit of dry grass, which they chew and suck until they have got all the nutriment out of it, taking enormous mouthsful each time. It requires a great deal of dexterity to handle the yuta properly, so as to lose none of the white grubs, and get them thoroughly clean; while little native children, six or seven years old, understand this business very well, I have never seen a white man succeed in imitating them. The grub is in season about September, and it is therefore only at that time that the yuta is seen among the natives. All the above weapons and implements are with other things packed in the knapsack which is carried under the left arm, being by one or more strings slung over the shoulder. It is either a mere kangaroo skin, drawn together by a string like a purse, or a coarse net, manufactured of the fibres of rushes. The smaller articles contained in the knapsack are: a large flat shell for drinking, a round smooth stone for breaking the bones of animals, one or more kinds of paint, a wooden scoop used in roasting roots, some pieces of quartz, and the whole skin of some animal which answers for a purse to keep minute things in, such as kangaroo sinews and pointed bones of various sizes (serving for needles and thread), sharp-edged thin bones to peel roots with, tufts of feathers, tips for beards, strings, spear-barbs, &c. To prevent these from falling through the meshes of the net, the inside of it is lined with dry grass. Besides the articles mentioned, the natives carry roots and whatever game they pick up during the day in the nurti, as the wallet is called by them, and on the top of all they place their weapons, entwining them in such a manner in the string that closes the knapsack that they cannot slip. The knapsacks of the women differ in no way from those of the men, except that they are larger and, when full and heavy, are carried by them on the back by a breast-band across the chest.