s uninterrupted for any great length of
time, for even where it has taken place for the most pacific purposes, it
seldom terminates as it began; and the greater the number of natives
present, the less likelihood is there that they will remain very long in
a state of quiescence.

If not soon compelled to separate by the scarcity of food, or a desire to
follow some favourite pursuit, for which the season of the year is
favourable, they are generally driven to it by discord and disagreements
amongst themselves, which their habits and superstitions are calculated
to foment.

Chapter III.

FOOD--HOW PROCURED--HOW PREPARED--LIMITATION AS TO AGE, ETC., ETC.

The food of the Aborigines of Australia embraces an endless variety of
articles, derived both from the animal and vegetable kingdom. The
different kinds in use depend in a great measure upon the season of the
year and local circumstances. Every district has in it something peculiar
to itself. The soil and climate of the continent vary greatly in their
character and afford a corresponding variety of productions to the
Aborigines. As far as it is yet known there are no localities on its
coast, no recesses in its interior, however sterile and inhospitable they
may appear to the traveller, that do not hold out some inducements to the
bordering savage to visit them, or at proper seasons of the year provide
him with the means of sustenance. Captain Grey remarks, in volume 2, of
his travels, page 261--

"Generally speaking, the natives live well; in some districts there may
at particular seasons of the year be a deficiency of food, but if such is
the case, these tracts are, at those times, deserted. It is, however,
utterly impossible for a traveller or even for a strange native to judge
whether a district affords an abundance of food, or the contrary; for in
traversing extensive parts of Australia, I have found the sorts of food
vary from latitude to latitude, so that the vegetable productions used by
the Aborigines in one are totally different to those in another; if,
therefore, a stranger has no one to point out to him the vegetable
productions, the soil beneath his feet may teem with food, whilst he
starves. The same rule holds good with regard to animal productions; for
example, in the southern parts of the continent the Xanthorrea affords an
inexhaustible supply of fragrant grubs, which an epicure would delight
in, when once he has so far conquered his pre