THEIR MEANS OF EXISTENCE.

The natives of the Darling live chiefly on the fish of the river, and are expert swimmers and divers.  They can swim and turn with great velocity under water, and they can both see and spear the largest fish, sometimes remaining beneath the surface a considerable time for this purpose.  In very cold weather however they float on pieces of bark; and thus also they can spear the fish, having a small fire beside them in such a bark canoe.

NETS USED BY THEM.

They also feed on birds, and especially on ducks, which they ensnare with nets, in the possession of every tribe.  These nets are very well worked, much resembling our own in structure, and they are made of the wild flax which grows in tufts near the river.  These are easily gathered by the gins, who manage the whole process of net-making.  They give each tuft (soon after gathering it) a twist, also biting it a little, and in that state it is laid about on the roof of their huts until dry.  Fishing nets are made of various similar materials, being often very large; and attached to some of them I have seen half-inch cordage which might have been mistaken for the production of a rope-walk.  But the largest of their nets are those set across the Darling for the purpose of catching ducks which fly along the river in considerable flocks.  These nets are strong, with wide meshes; and when occasion requires they are stretched across the river from a lofty pole erected for the purpose on one side to some large opposite tree on the other.  Such poles are permanently fixed, supported by substantial props, and it was doubtless one of them that Captain Sturt supposed to have been erected to propitiate some deity.

The native knows well the alleys green through which at twilight the thirsty pigeons and parrots rush towards the water; and there, with a smaller net hung up, he sits down and makes a fire ready to roast the birds which may fall into his snare.

These savages have a power of manipulating with their toes so as to do many things surprising to men who wear shoes.* This power they acquire chiefly by ascending trees from infancy, their mode of climbing depending as much on the toes as the fingers.  With the toes they gather freshwater mussels (unio) from the muddy bottom of the rivers or lagoons; and the heaps of these shells beside their old fireplaces, which are numerous along the banks, show that this shellfish is the daily food of at least the gins and children.  In their attempts to steal from us their feet were much employed.  They would tread softly on any article, seize it with the toes, pass it up the back, or between the arm and side, and so conceal it in the armpit, or between the beard and throat.

(Footnote. 
Morruda, yerraba, tundy kin arra,
Morruda, yerraba, min yin guiny wite ma la. 
Song of Wollondilly natives; meaning: 
On road the white man walks with creaking shoes;
He cannot walk up trees, nor his feet-fingers use.)