Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/294

 216 THE PORT LINCOLN TRIBE. Some men also carry a native knife, called bakki bakkiti, made of a large piece of quartz fixed to one end of a stick with resin. There is one more instrument to he mentioned, of a more sacred and mysterious use: this is the witarna, an oval chip of wood, say eighteen inches long and three or four broad, smooth on both sides and not above half an inch thick. By a long string which passes through a hole at one end, the native swings it round his head through the air, when it gradually, as the string becomes twisted, produces a deep unearthly sound, interrupted at intervals and anon breaking forth again with increased intensity. From the women and children the witarna is carefully concealed; and whenever it is heard, which is only at their mysterious ceremonies, the women know that they must not approach. FOOD. It has been asserted that the Aborigines of this country will eat anything. This opinion has probably arisen from seeing them eat many things which to an European would be very disgusting, such as grubs, foul eggs, intestines of animals, &c. Yet there are articles of food relished by white men that a native would not touch; for instance, some kinds of fish, oysters, or shell-fish of any kind, the common mushroom, &c., although they eat almost all other kinds of fungus. The natives divide their food into two general classes, namely, paru, which denotes animal food of every description, and mai, which comprises all vegetable nutriments. To the latter class belong a variety of roots, such as ngamba, ngarruru, nilai, winnu, and other kinds, which are nearly all of the size and shape of a small carrot or radish. These are all roasted in hot ashes, and peeled before they are eaten, and have more or less a bitter taste. The only root known to me as eaten in a raw state is that of the grass-tree, which grows in great abundance on the barren hills and plains of Port Lincoln, and is consumed by the natives in prodigious quantities at different seasons of the year. It is by no means unpleasant to the palate but contains, probably, very little nourishment. Several kinds of the fungus tribe are also consumed raw. Though this country