Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/296

 218 THE PORT LINCOLN TRIBE. Every description of game, from the kangaroo down to the smallest marsupial species, and all kinds of birds, from the emu to the wren, constitute food for the Aborigines of this district, nor are snakes and other reptiles by any means despised. The commonest method of procuring wild animals is to approach them unseen and spear them unawares. In order to effect this, some artifices are employed to divert the attention of the animal, such as one man stationing himself in an open space at a distance, or hiding himself in a bush and making a slight noise by breaking sticks or otherwise, while the huntsman is creeping nearer and nearer until he has his victim within reach of his spear. This is the usual way of killing kangaroos, emus, and wild dogs; but in winter, when the ground is soft, the kangaroos are pursued till they are tired out, and are then killed with waddies, or if a great number of natives be collected, as is often the case in summer, they surround a district of country known to contain kangaroo, and by shouting, and gradually drawing closer, drive them towards the spot where other men are concealed and prepared to spear the game as it passes them; and if near the sea-coast, they hunt the poor animals upon a point of land, where they are easily speared, or if they take to the sea, as I am told they sometimes will do, their enemies will pursue, even in this element, by swimming after them. The smaller animals, as wallaby and kangaroorats that live in the scrub, are knocked down with waddies while running away. To start them from their lairs, a whole district is set on fire, before which the hunters take their places, or if the bush be not dry enough to burn, they spread out in line, firing here and there a dry patch, and hurling their waddies at the scared animals. Where the scrub is low, each man has a tuft of feathers at the butt end of a spear, which he plants upright near the bush that he knows to contain some animal, and as soon as the others see this signal they come to surround and thus make sure of the game. They have also a great number of manual signs, by which they can indicate the description of game in sight without speaking. Thus, pointing with the forefinger, while the rest are closed, and making a motion that reminds one of the hopping of