In these casual meetings of natives it occasionally happens that several women kneel together, crying and embracing the knees of some old savage, who stands erect in the midst of the group, with a proud and lordly air, whilst they cower to the earth around him; sometimes they have children slung at their backs, and these little things may be seen unconsciously playing with their mothers' hair whilst this mournful scene is enacting. PUNCTILIOS OF FORM. Some old women are scrupulously punctilious about the performance of all these matters of etiquette, attaching a degree of importance to them which, in the eyes of civilized man, approaches the ludicrous; but they look upon them in a very different light. I have seen a number of these sticklers for form kneeling round a little boy not more than six or seven years old, lamenting most bitterly, the little fellow meanwhile preserving in his countenance and bearing all the gravity and dignity which a man could have exhibited. CHAPTER 14. FOOD AND HUNTING. ERRORS REGARDING SCARCITY OF FOOD OF NATIVES. The mistake very commonly made with regard to the natives of Australia is to imagine that they have small means of subsistence, or are at times greatly pressed for want of food: I could produce many almost humorous instances of the errors which travellers have fallen into upon this point. They lament in their journals that the unfortunate Aborigines should be reduced by famine to the miserable necessity of subsisting on certain sorts of food which they have found near their huts; whereas in many instances the articles thus quoted by them are those which the natives most prize, and are really neither deficient in flavour nor nutritious qualities. I will give one remarkable example of an error of this kind into which a traveller of great ability has fallen; but this will only render palpable the ignorance that has prevailed with regard to the habits and customs of this people when in their wild state, for those who frequent European towns and the outskirts of population are soon compelled by the force of circumstances to depart, in a great measure, from their original habits. Captain Sturt, to whom I allude, says in his travels (volume 1 page 118): Among other things we found a number of bark troughs filled with the gum of the mimosa, and vast quantities of gum made into cakes upon the ground. From this it would appear that these unfortunate creatures were reduced to the last extremity, and, being unable to procure any other nourishment, had been obliged to collect this mucilaginous food. ...