Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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In This The Small Toes Of The Left Foot Are Placed, The Left Arm
Is Employed In Clasping The Trunk
Of the tree, and the right in cutting
another notch for the right foot, about two feet above the first;
But a
little to one side of it, the wadna or ngakko is now stuck firmly in the
bark above, and serves to enable him to raise the body whilst gaining the
second notch, into which the ball of the great toe of the right foot is
placed, and the implement liberated to make a third step on the left
side, and so on successively until the tree is ascended. The descent is
made in the same manner, by clasping the tree, and supporting the feet in
the notches. The principle of climbing in the way described, appears to
consist in always having three points of contact with the tree, either
two arms and one leg, or two legs and one arm.
Having got up the tree, the native proceeds to search for any holes there
may be in its trunk, or among the boughs; these vary from one foot to
nine, or more, in depth, for the whole trunk itself is sometimes hollow.
To ascertain in which hole the opossum is, the native drops in a pebble
or a piece of bark, or a broken bit of stick, and then applying his ear
to the outside, listens for the rustling motion made by the animal in
shifting its position, when disturbed by what has been dropped upon it.
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Page 696 of 914
Words from 194213 to 194471
of 254601
