e borne in mind that the articles of food I have enumerated in
this chapter belong only to a particular district of about two hundred
miles in extent, for every degree of latitude some articles would
disappear from the list, whilst other new ones would enter into it. For
instance on the north-west coast they eat a species of oyster (unio) the
almonds of the pandanus, wild grapes, guavas, the excellent fruit of a
species of capparis, and many other articles which are not known upon the
south-west coast; but these are procured and cooked in the same manner as
the articles which I have already enumerated. My object being merely to
give such an outline as would enable the reader to understand well the
mode of life of an Australian savage, I did not think such particular
details necessary as I should have been led into, had I enumerated all
the sorts of food which I have seen eaten by the natives in Australia.

CHAPTER 15. SONGS AND POETRY.

GENERAL PRACTICE OF SINGING. TRADITIONAL SONGS.

Like all other savage races the natives of Western Australia are very
fond of singing and dancing: to a sulky old native his song is what a
quid of tobacco is to a sailor; is he angry, he sings; is he glad, he
sings; is he hungry, he sings; if he is full, provided he is not so full
as to be in a state of stupor, he sings more lustily than ever; and it is
the peculiar character of their songs which renders them under all
circumstances so solacing to them. The songs are short, containing
generally only one or two ideas, and are constantly repeated over and
over again in a manner doubtless grating to the untutored ear of a
European, but to one skilled in Australian music lulling and harmonious
in the extreme, and producing much the same effect as the singing of a
nurse does upon a child.

SONG OF AN OLD MAN IN WRATH. SCENE PRODUCED BY IT.

Nothing can give a better idea of the character of these people than
their songs. In England an elderly gentleman, who has been at all put out
of his way by encroachments and trespasses upon his property, sits over
his fire in the evening, sipping his port and brooding over vengeance by
means of the law; but the law is tortuous, expensive, and uncertain; his
revenge is very distant from him; under these circumstances the more the
elderly gentleman talks the more irate he becomes. Very different is the
conduct of the elderly Australian gentleman. He comes to his hut at night
in a towering passion; tuck