Among cannibals; an account of four years' travels in Australia and of camp life with the aborigines of Queensland; . nto the stakes were put in a square, and were scarcely a yardhigh. In the forks long branches were laid, and over thesethe roof was made with more branches and long dry made myself a very comfortable bed of leaves and grass,spreading a mackintosh over the latter, and using some ofthe things I carried with me for a pillow ; among these wasmy dearest treasure—the tobacco. \\y my side was mygun, which was always my faithful bedfellow. While we were occupied in m
Among cannibals; an account of four years' travels in Australia and of camp life with the aborigines of Queensland; . nto the stakes were put in a square, and were scarcely a yardhigh. In the forks long branches were laid, and over thesethe roof was made with more branches and long dry made myself a very comfortable bed of leaves and grass,spreading a mackintosh over the latter, and using some ofthe things I carried with me for a pillow ; among these wasmy dearest treasure—the tobacco. \\y my side was mygun, which was always my faithful bedfellow. While we were occupied in making the huts. Chinaman XI THE JUNGLE-HEN 149 had disappeared. He soon returned with a large number ofjungle-hens or graiian {Mcgapodius tiunulus), a name appliedby the natives both to the bird and to its eggs. This wasChinamans own land, and .so he knew every spot in theforest, and particularly all the mounds in which jungle-henseeers were to be found. November was just the time for thegranan, which is found in great abundance in the lower part ^ -54 ???«!«S-»-<- -<»!Jf-~ t / / -1 V, .<rM;. JUNGLE-HEN {Megapodius tumulus). of the scrubs, but not higher up, where the cootjari {Talegalld)takes its place. The eggs are about four times the size of hens eggs, andare prepared and eaten in the following original manner:The blacks, having first made a hole on one side of the ^^z,place it on the hot ashes, and after a minute or two thecontents begin to boil. Two objects are gained by makinga hole in the ^^^—in the first place it does not breakeasily, and in the second place it can be eaten while lyingboiling in the ashes. They dip into the ^^^ the end of a I50 AMONG CANNIBALS ? chap. cane that has been chewed so as to form a brush, and usethis as a spoon. As is well known, the jungle-hen, like the brush-turkey{Talegalla), hatches her eggs by the aid of artificial lays the eggs in a large mound, which she constructsherself from earth and all sorts of vegetable
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectethnology, booksubjectnaturalhistory
