Native Name—Lake Tyers. | ||
| Red wallaby | Kénarra | Halmaturus ualabatus. |
| Small wallaby | Dak-wan | Halmaturus Billardieri. |
| Padamelon | Bowey | Halmaturus Billardieri. |
| Kangaroo-rat | Bree | Bittongia cuniculus. |
The red kangaroo (Osphranter rufus) is found in the interior from just north of the Murray.
Opossum.
Opossums furnish the natives with an abundant supply of animal food in all the well-timbered tracts. These creatures, in situations suitable to them, are very numerous. When riding through the forests of the north-eastern parts of Victoria, I have seen, at night, many hundreds of them, and it was not at all difficult to get near them. They are easily seen by moonlight; and, by keeping in the deep shadows cast by the bushes, one can almost reach them by hand when they are on the lower branches of the trees. As far as I have been able to observe them, they are less alarmed by sound and scent than any other of the marsupial inhabitants of the bush. A loud noise would, of course, cause them to hide themselves; but one has not to be so cautious in approaching the retreat of these creatures as in attempting to observe the habits of the native cat, or even the native bear, which does not ordinarily exhibit much intelligence.
The opossum hunter roams through the forest, eyeing each tree as he goes, until he sees one likely to hold an opossum in some of its holes. He examines the bark, and so well skilled is he in his craft as to be able to determine at once whether there are marks of opossum's claws on it, whether they are fresh or not, and whether the creature has been ascending or descending. If the examination is satisfactory, he climbs the tree and takes the animal out of its hole.
The various ways in which the natives climb trees are described elsewhere.
Sometimes the marks of the opossum's claws are very faint, and in such case the hunter breathes on the bark, in order to see whether there are any hairs or grains of sand on it. By such signs he is guided; and he rarely returns to his camp without a good supply of opossum flesh.
The several species of opossum constitute the ordinary animal food of the natives. They are taken with comparative ease. Indeed industry more than skill is required for their capture, though, without a knowledge of their habits, and in places where they are scarce, a man might make many attempts before securing one.
In cooking them the natives are not very particular. In general, they are thrown upon a fire for perhaps a minute. Then the wool is pulled off, a hole is made in the stomach with a stick, and the entrails are taken out. The body is then roasted slowly in the hot embers and ashes of the fire.
Sir Thomas Mitchell found that the native method of cooking the opossum was not unsatisfactory. The flesh had a flavor of singed wool, but was not unpalatable even to a white man.
