hook and line. The fiz-gig is made of the
wattle; has a joint in it, fastened by gum; is from fifteen to twenty
feet in length, and armed with four barbed prongs; the barb being a piece
of bone secured by gum. To each of these prongs they give a particular
name; but I never could discover any sensible reason for the distinction.

The lines used by the women are made by themselves of the bark of a small
tree which they find in the neighbourhood. Their hooks are made of the
mother-of-pearl oyster, which they rub on a stone until it assumes the
shape they want. It must be remarked, that these hooks are not barbed;
they nevertheless catch fish with them with great facility.

While fishing, the women generally sing; and I have often seen them in
their canoes chewing muscles or cockles, or boiled fish, which they spit
into the water as a bait. In these canoes, they always carry a small fire
laid upon sea-weed or sand; wherewith, when desirous of eating, they find
a ready material for dressing their meal. This fire accounted for an
appearance which we noticed in many of the women about the small of the
back. We at first thought it must have been the effect of stripes; but
the situation of them was questionable, and led us to make inquiry, when
we found it to be the effect of the fires in the canoes.

In addition to fish, they indulge themselves with a delicacy which I have
seen them eager to procure. In the body of the dwarf gum tree are several
large worms and grubs, which they speedily divest of antennae, legs, etc.
and, to our wonder and disgust, devour. A servant of mine, an European,
has often joined them in eating this luxury; and has assured me, that it
was sweeter than any marrow he had ever tasted; and the natives
themselves appeared to find a peculiar relish in it.

The woods, exclusive of the animals which they occasionally find in their
neighbourhood, afford them but little sustenance; a few berries, the yam
and fern-root, the flowers of the different banksia, and at times some
honey, make up the whole vegetable catalogue.

The natives who live in the woods and on the margins of rivers are
compelled to seek a different subsistence, and are driven to a harder
exercise of their abilities to procure it. This is evinced in the hazard
and toll with which they ascend the tallest trees after the opossum and
flying squirrel. At the foot of Richmond Hill, I once found several
places constructed expressly for the purpose