PLATE XIV
1. Arunndta boy practising with toy shield and boomerang.
2. Wordaman warrior, holding prevalent north-western type of spear-thrower and wearing pubic fur tassel.
Slight variations are noticed in the method of cooking a kangaroo according to the locality. In the Musgrave Ranges, the animal is prepared whole. The skin is not detached, whilst the bony paws may, or may not, be removed beforehand in order to secure the sinews, which are used all over Australia for tying purposes in the manufacture of their implements and weapons. The carcase is laid upon its back and completely covered with hot ashes and sand, and thus permitted to cook. When sufficiently, and that according to our ideas often means only partly, cooked, the skin can easily be removed. The belly of the baked carcase is cut open and the gut laid aside. What remains is then pulled to pieces by hand and the portions distributed among all members having a right to such. The meat is tender and juicy when cooked this way. Even the intestines, after their contents have been squeezed out by the aid of two fingers, are eaten by the less privileged members of the tribe. The Arunndta call the last-named dish “uttna kalkal.” Most of the bones, if not crushed between the jaws, are shattered between two stones and the marrow eaten.
The Wogait and other tribes on the north coast break the legs of the animal and tie them together in pairs with shreds of Hybiscus bark. The carcase is opened at one side to remove the entrails, and an incision is also made into the anus to clear it. In the case of a kangaroo, the tail is cut off and cooked separately in ashes. The skin is not removed. When thus prepared, the animal is transferred to an oven as described above and first covered with a piece or two of “paper-bark,” then with hot sand and ashes.
In order that they may readily scoop out a fireplace, scrape the sand to and from the roast, and handle the meat, vegetable, seed-cake, or whatever the article in the oven might happen to be, the Northern Kimberley tribes have invented a long wooden shovel. This is a slightly hollowed blade, about three feet in length, four inches wide at the lower end, and decreasing in width at the hand end. The implement is mostly cut out of a sheet of eucalyptus bark.
The central tribes generally make use of a discarded or defective boomerang, which seems to answer the purpose very well.
Perhaps the most important article a native possesses is the fire-stick. No matter where he might be, on the march or in camp, it is his constant companion. Important as it is, the fire-stick is only a short length of dry branch or bark, smouldering at one end. It is carried in the hand with a waving motion, from one side to another. When walking in the dark, this motion is brisker in order to keep alive sufficient flame for lighting the way. A body of natives walking in this way at night, in the customary Indian file, is indeed an imposing sight. Directly a halt is made, a fire is lit, to cook the meals at day and to supply warmth during sleep at night. When camp is left, a fresh stick is taken from the fire and carried on to the next stopping place.
In consequence of carrying the fire-stick too close to the body during cold weather, most of the natives have peculiar, irregular scars upon abdomen and chest which have been caused by burns. The Wongapitcha call these marks “pika wairu.”
If by accident the fire should become extinguished, a fresh flame is kindled by one of the methods depending upon the friction and heat which are produced by rubbing two pieces of wood together. Two methods are in use, all over Australia and the associated islands to the north; the one is by means of the “fire-whisk,” the other by the “fire-saw.”