In the summer these people sleep in the open air, making, towards sundown, a fire in the bush, and sleeping with their feet to the fire. In winter they build rude huts of twigs and reeds, about four feet high, and large enough for two or three individuals, and here they, having in their hunting season collected provisions enough to subsist on, huddle together and sleep away the rainy season, which usually lasts about five months. Their food comprises almost everything that is endowed with life--kangaroos, snakes, iguanas, and grubs being their dainties; and if in the neighborhood where a bullock is killed, they greedily flock to the spot, secure the entrails, and devour them without cleansing. They are also very fond of the flesh of the whale; and if by accident one comes ashore on the coast, or they take one at either of the fisheries in the bay, they resort to the spot in great numbers and devour the meat, fresh or putrid, without cooking. The women back all the burdens, beside carrying the children; the child, perfectly naked, sits astride on the mother’s shoulder, with the hands firmly clasped in her hair, and in this manner they travel miles with them. Some of the children carried in this way are of so light a complexion, as to excite strong suspicion of amalgamation with some of the whites in the neighborhood. The women, beside the child, carry a bag, into which all the surplus provision is stored. Impelled by curiosity, I one day bargained for a sight into one of these mysterious receptacles, and for a plug of tobacco had revealed to my sight half a dozen grubs, several snails, part of a toad, a snake, roots and herbs. The snakes they will not eat without they have been present at the time they were killed, being fearful that the snake, on being wounded, should have bitten himself. These people are remarkable for accuracy of vision and keen scent. For the former quality they are occasionally carried out by whaleships, for the purpose of looking out from the masthead; and I have been told by those who were shipmates with them, that they could discern a spout or sail at as great a distance with the naked eye, as a practised hand could with the glass. The last mentioned quality causes them to be employed by the government in tracking convicts who have taken to the bush, by captains of whaleships to recover deserters, and by the settlers to track up their stray cattle. In all these pursuits they are said to be infallible; although when they arrive at the runaway, if he present a bold face to them, they will not molest him; and unless they have a white man with them to urge them on, they will retreat empty-handed. They have a wholesome dread of fire-arms, and some of their race having seen a revolving pistol, has impressed on most of them the supernatural character of the weapon; and the “little fellow,” as they call it, is to them a great bug-a-boo.