Again Taking The Nut In Its Claws, It Inserts
The Very Long And Sharp Point Of The Bill And Picks Out The
Kernel, Which Is Seized Hold Of, Morsel By Morsel, By The
Extensible Tongue.
Thus every detail of form.
And structure in
the extraordinary bill of this bird seems to have its use, and we
may easily conceive that the black cockatoos have maintained
themselves in competition with their more active and more
numerous white allies, by their power of existing on a kind of
food which no other bird is able to extract from its stony shell.
The species is the Microglossum aterrimum of naturalists.
During the two weeks which I spent in this little settlement, I
had good opportunities of observing the natives at their own
home, and living in their usual manner. There is a great monotony
and uniformity in everyday savage life, and it seemed to me a
more miserable existence than when it had the charm of novelty.
To begin with the most important fact in the existence of
uncivilized peoples - their food - the Aru men have no regular
supply, no staff of life, such as bread, rice, mandiocca, maize,
or sago, which are the daily food of a large proportion of
mankind. They have, however, many sorts of vegetables, plantains,
yams, sweet potatoes, and raw sago; and they chew up vast
quantities of sugar-cane, as well as betel-nuts, gambir, and
tobacco. Those who live on the coast have plenty of fish; but
when inland, as we are here, they only go to the sea
occasionally, and then bring home cockles and other shell-fish by
the boatload. Now and then they get wild pig or kangaroo, but too
rarely to form anything like a regular part of their diet, which
is essentially vegetable; and what is of more importance, as
affecting their health, green, watery vegetables, imperfectly
cooked, and even these in varying and often in sufficient
quantities. To this diet may be attributed the prevalence of skin
diseases, and ulcers on the legs and joints. The scurfy skin
disease so common among savages has a close connexion with the
poorness and irregularity of their living. The Malays, who are
never without their daily rice, are generally free from it; the
hill-Dyaks of Borneo, who grow rice and live well, are clean
skinned while the less industrious and less cleanly tribes, who
live for a portion of the year on fruits and vegetables only, are
very subject to this malady. It seems clear that in this, as in
other respects, man is not able to make a beast of himself with
impunity, feeding like the cattle on the herbs and fruits of the
earth, and taking no thought of the morrow. To maintain his
health and beauty he must labour to prepare some farinaceous
product capable of being stored and accumulated, so as to give
him a regular supply of wholesome food. When this is obtained, he
may add vegetables, fruits, and meat with advantage.
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