One very dexterous feat which the natives perform is to kill a bird as it flies from the nest. This is executed by two men, one of whom, placing himself under the nest, throws a spear through its centre, so as to hit the bird in the breast, which, frightened and slightly wounded, flies out, and is then struck to the ground by the dow-uk, which the other native hurls at it as it quits the tree. They are such good shots with these short, heavy sticks that pigeons, quails, and even the smallest birds, are usually knocked over with them; and I have often seen them kill a pigeon with a spear, at the distance of about thirty paces. MODES OF COOKING BIRDS. Birds are generally cooked by plucking them and throwing them on the fire, certain portions of the entrails being considered a great delicacy: but when they wish to dress a bird very nicely they first of all draw it and cook the entrails separately; a triangle is then formed round the bird by three red-hot pieces of stick, against which ashes are placed. Hot coals are also stuffed into the inside of the bird, and it is thus rapidly cooked and left full of gravy. Wild-fowl dressed in this way on a clean piece of bark form as good a dish as I have ever eaten. OPOSSUM HUNTING. Opossum hunting is pursued either by day or during a moonlight night. A stranger cannot but be favourably impressed with regard to the quickness of a native in discovering whether or not an opossum has ascended a tree. The savage carelessly walks up to some massive trunk which he thinks bears a suspicious appearance, his hands are placed thoughtlessly behind his back, whilst his dark eye glances over the bark; suddenly it is for one moment stationary, and he looks eagerly at the tree, for he has detected the holes made by the nails of an opossum in its ascent; he now seeks for one of these foot-marks, which has a little sand attached to it, and gently blows the sand, but it sticks together, and does not easily move away, this is a proof that the animal has climbed the tree the same morning, for otherwise the sand would have been dried up by the heat of the sun, and, not being held together by dampness, would have been readily swept away before his breath. Having by this examination of signs, which an unskilled European in vain strains his eyes to detect, convinced himself that the opossum is in some hole of the tree, the native pulls his hatchet from his girdle and, cutting a small notch in the bark about four feet from the ground, he places the great toe of his right foot in it, throws his right arm round the tree, and with his left hand sticks the point handle of the hatchet into the bark as high up as he can reach, and thus forms a stay to drag himself up with; having made good this step he cuts another for his left foot, and thus proceeds until he has ascended to the hole where the opossum is hid, which is then compelled by smoke, or by being poked out, to quit its hiding-place,