Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-06-29
rule she dies at about thirty. Even the
men seldom live to be more than htty'
WHAT THE NATIVES EAT.

RUE she ultS at uDOUt NlllNS i'Nh 49,
men seldom live TO be more than MY
WHAT THE NATIVES EAT.
The lives Of the aborlgines are short
ened by exposure and diet In point oil
intelligence they are said to be as low
as any people OF the world, ana they
live and act more like animals than
human beings. Their food is largely
vegetable including all sorts Of roots.
They thrash seeds out OF different
kinds of grasses and collect weeds
which they eat as we do water creSs
and lettuce. One of their taVorlte
dishes IS wild honey, which they ma In
the hollow trees. They collect via
fruits and their bread is made of grass
seeds moistened and ground between
stones into a flour This Hour IS theh
made into dough and eaten either
cooked or raw,
Among the curious viands or Whlch
they are fond are ants, worms ana
snakes There are ants all over Aus
tralia, and certain varieties Of them are
caught by the aborigines. The native
stands upon an ant hill and stamps
with his feet, whereupon the ants run
up his legs, After his shanks are Wen
coated he scrapes them off and eats
them. The larger kinds OF ants are
roasted or dried In the sun.
Another delicacy Is the beetle, when
Is consumed both In the worm or larVa
and In the matured insect. The worms
are picked out of the rotten trees ana
cooked in red hot ashes. Foreigners
who have eaten them say they are not
at all bad. and that they look and taste
much like an omelet
Snakes OF all kinds are caught ana
roasted, and also lizards, especially the
lguana. The iguana Is an enormous
lizard. 1t IS eaten throughout South
America and has flesh much like that
Of a Young chicken. It's eggs are n
dellcacy and are greedily deVoured oy
the savages.
The natives are also fond Of grass
hoppers and locusts. There are some
times swarms OF the latter when me
women gather them by the baskettul
and the people have a great feast. They
first throw the grasshoppers into the
fire 10 burn of the wings and legs ana
then drag them out and roast each
transformer separately. The flesh SO
prepared tastes not unlike roasted
chestnuts.
AS HUNTERS AND CRACKERS.
The Australians ten me that the ma
tiyes have more ability than Is gem
orally supposed. They show the eN-
dencc of reasoning powers and are
such excellent hunters and crackers that
| they are largely employed as such by
| the whites. Here In Queensland they
take the Mace that bloodhounds had
! in slavery days. They can trail any
| thing. They follow criminals on horse-
| hack and almost invariably catch them
| There are now l2l such men on the
| Queensland police force each OF whom
/ receives a salary Of about 10 cents
day and his food.
IA hunters they catch the largest
game without firearms. They trap
/ emus. hunting them with native dogs
/ driving them into nets and catching
| them IN pitfaus. In the wilds the
| hunters station themselves near the
water holes and wait until the emu
comes down 10 drink They then rig
M n net across It's path, drive II In,
and when II has become entangled des-
| troy II with their spears, clubs or
| boomerangs. They have call by
which they initiate the voice of the
| emu riuCh as our mountaineers 10
| that Of the turkey In Wild turkey
huntine. The emu whistle Is made by
roun5lnr on n niece Of hollow log in
| such way that Il gives forth a pc
cuilar sound. sometimes a man VIII
/ cover himself with bushes and thus
| sneak upon the emu and kin him.
Kanglroos are caught In nets, and
! ore also run down with dogs and
M fVIa ~ al
| kinds and In an sorts Of ways. They
catch pigeons by throwing nets over
| them MS they 81 about the water holes
| Thov 90 into the water with bushes
! about their heads and sneak upon the
| ducks avn cranes which are swimming
| there They also catch FISH with nets,
! and correctness polson the water with
! certain plants and capture the fish as
| thov rise 10 the surface. They catch
catfish hv tramning through the
streams md getting the flsh under
! thor frrt IN such cases the native
! kUls tho Fen by biting cennly in'o US
! dssb mst back ~ the head lie then
! ,hrows T. out unou tie bank knowing
| that II win not wriggle us way back
| into the water and feels about for
more.
THE QUESTION OF CANNIBALs.
There Is no doubt but That the Aus
| tralian aborigues are more or less
! canpihals. The records show that
they haye always been 50. and that the
eating OF human flesh exists In some
parts ot Australia today. Carl Lum-
holtz, To- whom am indebted for some
Of the information In this letter, has
written a book. entitled Among the
Cannihals." pcturing his travels
through the camps OF the Australian
aborignes; the government records also