and bearing all the gravity and dignity
which a man could have exhibited.

CHAPTER 14. FOOD AND HUNTING.

ERRORS REGARDING SCARCITY OF FOOD OF NATIVES.

The mistake very commonly made with regard to the natives of Australia is
to imagine that they have small means of subsistence, or are at times
greatly pressed for want of food: I could produce many almost humorous
instances of the errors which travellers have fallen into upon this
point. They lament in their journals that the unfortunate Aborigines
should be reduced by famine to the miserable necessity of subsisting on
certain sorts of food which they have found near their huts; whereas in
many instances the articles thus quoted by them are those which the
natives most prize, and are really neither deficient in flavour nor
nutritious qualities. I will give one remarkable example of an error of
this kind into which a traveller of great ability has fallen; but this
will only render palpable the ignorance that has prevailed with regard to
the habits and customs of this people when in their wild state, for those
who frequent European towns and the outskirts of population are soon
compelled by the force of circumstances to depart, in a great measure,
from their original habits.

Captain Sturt, to whom I allude, says in his travels (volume 1 page 118):

Among other things we found a number of bark troughs filled with the gum
of the mimosa, and vast quantities of gum made into cakes upon the
ground. From this it would appear that these unfortunate creatures were
reduced to the last extremity, and, being unable to procure any other
nourishment, had been obliged to collect this mucilaginous food.

...

The gum of the mimosa, thus referred to, is a favourite article of food
amongst the natives, and when it is in season they assemble in large
numbers upon plains of the character previously described by Captain
Sturt in order to enjoy this luxury. The profusion in which this gum is
found enables large bodies to meet together, which, from their
subsistence being derived from wild animals and vegetables of spontaneous
growth, they can only do when some particular article is in full season,
or when a whale is thrown ashore. In order more fully to show how little
the habits of this people have been understood I may state with regard to
this very gum, called by the natives kwon-nat, that about the time the
above account was published by Captain Sturt an expedition was sent ou