Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/60

Rh underwood and is lost to view, Europeans generally succeed in getting within shooting distance by concealing themselves at the side of a horse. One of the methods adopted by the blacks for ensnaring this bird is the following : — The sportsman, when he comes in view of a covey of the game, procures a large spreading bramble, sufficient, when in a crouching position, to conceal his form. To this he attaches, by a string, a small bird, which he has at hand for the purpose. Concealing himself behind the foliage he then crawls deliberately and slowly in the direction of his object. The bird, which has been attached to the bramble, being kept towards the turkeys, its fluttering soon attracts the attention of the latter; they proceed to examine the strange object, at which they soon begin to peck. In the meantime the black, behind his leafy screen, prepares his snare, a sort of lasso, which he throws over the neck of his game, one by one, until all are entrapped.

It is a fact not generally known that among the aborigines of this territory, previous to the encroachments of the white man — and at the present day in the remote parts of the country — very exact divisions of territory among the various tribes prevailed. Yet such is the fact. In establishing these territorial divisions, moreover, the aborigines display a sense of equality and fair play which might sometimes be very well copied by more scientific surveyors and more enlightened law-makers. Thus, it is an established fact that wherever a lake of importance existed, the