Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-29

and the more wives he has the richer he is.
When a man dies Ibis widows go to his
oldest brother, who can keep them or dis
pose of them, as he pleaSes- The elder
brother has the right to give away or trade
off his sisters, and the same right belongs
TO the father. who often trades the fe-
males of the family for wives for his sons.
Can't Complain for Want of Work.
The native woman of Australia can't
complain that all the professions of her
tribe are not open to her. She does all the
work from building the house to getting
the food and nursing the baby. Most of
the tribes nOmadc. They build little
shelters of bark or skins wherever they
camp, starting new village at each stop
ping place. In travelling the women carry
all the belongings of the family. They are
laden down like pack horses and walk along
bent over behind their husbands who. per
haps. carry nothing but their bOomcrangs
and clubs. AS soon as they come to a new
camp the woman cuts the bark and builds
the hut. She then goes out and digs roots.
picks fruit and climbs the trees to chop
out the larvae of worms which she cooks
for breakfast. She often carries her child
with her while at this work, laying 1t on
the ground as she digs. She cuts the wood
and carries the water and when she falls
behind she is usually of a whipping
As result of such treatment she ages rap
idly, her hair grows gray and her face
wrinkles, and as a rule she dies at about
thirty. Even the men seldom five to be
more than fifty
What the Natives Eat
The lives of the aborigines are shortened
by exposure and diet. In point of intelIi-
gence they are said to be as low as any
people of the world, and 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 differ
ent kinds of grasses and collect weeds
x and
lettuce. One of their favorite dishes is
wild honey, which they find in the hollow
trees They collect wild fruits and their
bread is made of grass seeds mOistened and
ground between stones into -four This
flour is then made into dough and eaten
either cooked or raw.
Among the curious viands of which they
are fond are ants, worms and snakes There
are ants all over Australia, and certain
varieties of them are caught by the aborig-
Ines. The native stands upon an ant hill and
stamps with his feet, whereupOn the ants
run up his legs. After his Shanks are well
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, which is
! consumed both in the worm or Iarva and
| In the matured insect. The worms are
picked out of the rotten trees and cooked
| In red-h0t ashes. Foreigners who have
eaten them say they are not a. all bad. and
| that they look and taste much like an ONE
| let. oo
Snakes of all kinds are caught and roasted
! and also lizards, especially the iguana The
lguana Is an enormous lizard. 1t is eaten
| throughout South America and has f1esh
! much like that Of a young chicken It's
eggs are delicacy and are greedny de-
voured by the savages
| The natives are also fond OF prassbon-
perS and locuSts There are sometimes
| swarms of the latter, when the women
| gather them by the basketful and the peo-
| pie have a great feast They first throw
| the RraSShODDerS into the fire IN INV
the wings and legs and then drag hem out
F., and roast each grasshopper separately
! Inc flesh so prepared tastes not unlike
| roasted chestnuts.
| As Hunters and Trackers
| The Australians tell me that the natives
nave more ability than Is generally sun
| posed. They show the evidence of rea
soning powers and are such excellent
| hunters and crackers that they are largely
| employed as such by the whites Here in
! queensland they take the place that blood
| mounds had in slavery days. They can trail
| anything. They follow criminals on horse
| back and almost invariably catch them.
| There are now 121 such men on the Queens
] land police force. each Of whom receives a
salary of about 10 cents a dav and hfs
| food.
As hunters they catch the largest game
! without firearms. They trap emus hunt
| ing them with native dogs driving them
| into nets and catching them In pitfalls IN
| the wllds the hunters station themselves
| near the water holes and wait until the
emu comes down to drink. They then rig
| up net across Its path, drive it in, and
| when 1t has become entangled destroy 1t
with their spears. clubs or boomerangs
| they have call by which they initiate the
| voice of the emu, much as our mountain
GERS do that of the turkey In wild turkey
| hunting The emu whistle Is made by
| pounding on piece of hollow log in such
| way that it gives forth a peculiar
q ma N will hi
self with bushes and thus sneak upon the
| emu and kill him.