are cooked by being baked, shell and all, in the
hot ashes; when they are done a single pull removes the bottom shell, and
the whole animal remains in the upper one, which serves as a dish. They
are generally very fat, and are really delicate and delicious eating; the
natives are extremely fond of them, and the turtle season is looked
forward to by them as a very important period of the year.

BIRDS.

Birds form a very considerable article of food for the natives, and their
modes of killing them are so various that it would be impossible to
enumerate them all. Emus are killed in precisely the same manner as
kangaroos, but as they are more prized by the natives a greater degree of
excitement prevails when an emu is slain; shout succeeds shout, and the
distant natives take up the cry until it is sometimes re-echoed for
miles: yet the feast which follows the death is a very exclusive one; the
flesh is by far too delicious to be made a common article of food, hence
heavy penalties are pronounced against young men and unauthorized persons
who venture to touch it, and these are invariably rigidly enforced.

KILLING COCKATOOS.

Perhaps as fine a sight as can be seen in the whole circle of native
sports is the killing cockatoos with the kiley, or boomerang. A native
perceives a large flight of cockatoos in a forest which encircles a
lagoon; the expanse of water affords an open clear space above it,
unencumbered with trees, but which raise their gigantic forms all around,
more vigorous in their growth from the damp soil in which they flourish;
and in their leafy summits sit a countless number of cockatoos, screaming
and flying from tree to tree, as they make their arrangements for a
night's sound sleep. The native throws aside his cloak so that he may not
even have this slight covering to impede his motions, draws his kiley
from his belt, and with a noiseless, elastic step approaches the lagoon,
creeping from tree to tree, from bush to bush, and disturbing the birds
as little as possible; their sentinels however take the alarm, the
cockatoos farthest from the water fly to the trees near its edge, and
thus they keep concentrating their forces as the native advances; they
are aware that danger is at hand but are ignorant of its nature. At
length the pursuer almost reaches the edge of the water, and the scared
cockatoos, with wild cries, spring into the air; at the same instant the
native raises his right hand high over his shou