ring fish
varies according to the circumstances of the case; sometimes it is done
by diving, sometimes by sitting on a rock or tree and watching them as
they pass underneath; but in all cases astonishment is excited to see the
celerity and accuracy with which the eye and hand act in the nicest
unison.

Weirs are only constructed across places which are left nearly dry at
low-water, or when the floods subside; and the way in which fish are
taken in the net offers nothing remarkable.

METHODS OF COOKING FISH.

If the fish are not cooked by being merely thrown on the fire and broiled
they dress them in a manner worthy of being adopted by the most civilized
nations; this is called "Yudarn dookoon," or "tying-up cooking." A piece
of thick and tender paperbark is selected and torn into an oblong form;
the fish is laid in this, and the bark wrapped round it as paper is
folded round a cutlet; strings formed of grass are then wound tightly
about the bark and fish, which is then slowly baked in heated sand
covered with hot ashes; when it is completed the bark is opened and
serves as a dish: it is of course full of juice and gravy, not a drop of
which has escaped. Several of the smaller sorts of freshwater fish, in
size and taste resembling white-bait, are really delicious when cooked in
this manner; they occasionally also dress pieces of kangaroo and other
meats in the same way.

FEASTING ON A STRANDED WHALE.

A whale is the greatest delicacy that a native can partake of, and,
whilst standing beside the giant frame of one of these monsters of the
deep, he can only be compared to a mouse standing before a huge
plum-cake; in either case the mass of the food compared to that of the
consumer is enormous. It is impossible for civilized man to enter into
the feelings of the savage under these circumstances, for he has never
been similarly situated. He never has had such a quantity of food that he
doats on placed at once before him; hence when a native proprietor of an
estate in Australia finds a whale thrown ashore upon his property his
whole feelings undergo a sudden revulsion. Instead of being churlishly
afraid of the slightest aggression on his property his heart expands with
benevolence, and he longs to see his friends about him; so he falls to
work with his wives and kindles large fires to give notice of the joyful
event.

This duty being performed, he rubs himself all over with the blubber,
then anoints his favourite wive