The Gathering Vegetable Food, And In Fact The Cooking And Preparing Of Food Generally, Devolves Upon The Women, Except In The Case Of An Emu Or A Kangaroo, Or Some Of The Larger And More Valuable Animals, When The Men Take This Duty Upon Themselves.

In cooking vegetables, a single oven will suffice for three or four families, each woman receiving the same bundles of food when cooked, which she had put in.

The smaller kinds of fish and shell-fish, birds and animals, frogs, turtle, eggs, reptiles, gums, etc., are usually broiled upon the embers. Roots, bark of trees, etc., are cooked in the hot ashes. Fungi are either eaten raw or are roasted. The white ant is always eaten raw. The larvae of insects and the leaves of plants are either eaten raw or in a cooked state. The larger animals, as the kangaroo, emu, native dog, etc. and the larger fishes, are usually roasted in the oven.

In preparing the food for the cooking process a variety of forms are observed. In most animals, as the opossum, wallabie, dog, kangaroo, etc. the the bones of the legs are invariably broken, and the fur is singed off; a small aperture is made in the belly, the entrails withdrawn, and the hole closed with a wooden skewer, to keep in the gravy whilst roasting. The entrails of all animals, birds, and fishes, are made use of, and are frequently eaten whilst the animal itself is being prepared. Most birds have the feathers pulled or singed off, they are then thrown on the fire for a moment or two and when warm are withdrawn, skinned and the skin eaten.

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